Parts of a business jet appear to have broken off before the aircraft crashed in South Florida and erupted into a ball of flames, killing all nine people on board, a federal investigator said on Monday.
Video recorded by passersby captured the terrifying moment on Sunday afternoon when the Bahamas-bound aircraft plunged from the sky before slamming into the ground and exploding in Greenacres, about 11 kilometres southwest of West Palm Beach, Fla.
Flames flickered around chunks of pavement lining the crater as shocked residents looked on in horror. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site.
“Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire,” Anthony Blackmon, who lives near the crash site, told NBC affiliate WTVJ. “I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody, like how it happened today.”
Akemi Graham was in a nearby nail salon when the impact occurred. She described hearing a “loud zipping sound” as the plane was coming down, before a fireball erupted soon after.
“The fireball … it happened well within, you know, a split second,” said Graham, who spoke to CBC Radio’s As It Happens.
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas Chapman said during a news conference Monday that the aircraft appeared to start breaking up before it made impact and that he expects parts of the plane will be found far away.
“We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact,” Chapman said. “We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.”
WATCH | Officials provide timeline for fatal crash:
Florida jet crash | NTSB member provides initial timeline
Thomas Chapman, a member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, provided an initial timeline for the Bahamas-bound flight that crashed in Florida over the weekend, killing all nine onboard.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel G. Flores said at the news conference that the county “doesn’t have a clue” when residents living around the crash site will be able to return home.
There were around 77 mobile homes in the area and residents of those homes have been evacuated to a shelter, Flores said.
“Our concern right now is clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal,” Flores said. “We don’t really have a timeline as to when they are going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything they need to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers.”
The Bahamas-bound jet began its journey at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. Airport spokesperson Jim Reynolds described it as a private aircraft. Authorities have not released the names of the people who died.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office declined to discuss the death investigation, saying it is still in its early stages.
Mother identifies co-pilot
Camila Corteleti told the New York Post and New York Times on Monday that her daughter, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was the co-pilot on the jet.
Filgueiras earned her licence in 2023 when she was a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School, according to local news reports at the time.
Her pilot’s licence showed she had the rating to fly the jet, but not to be in command of the flight.
WATCH | Investigators probing cause of ‘cataclysmic’ plane crash:
Mayday call captures final moments before Florida jet crash
All nine people on board a private Learjet 60 bound for the Bahamas from Austin, Texas, are dead after the plane nosedived into a South Florida neighbourhood in the afternoon on Nov. 1. The jet erupted into a giant fireball when it crashed into a busy roadway in Palm Beach County, narrowly missing the entrance to a mobile home park. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says it’s now looking to recover the jet’s black box and confirm the cause of the crash.
Her father, Allan Filgueiras, told The Associated Press he wasn’t prepared to speak about the crash.
Palm Beach County Mayor Sara Baxter asked for sympathy for the crash victims.
“Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers,” she said.
Jet lost altitude at alarming rate
On Sunday, the jet began its journey at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, and airport spokesperson Jim Reynolds described it as a private aircraft. He could not immediately provide details about who was on board.
The plane was heading east at about 35,000 feet when the pilot started to report problems.
The pilot said ice was accumulating on the jet and that turbulence was jolting it by as much as 700 feet (210 metres), according to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net. Rain pounded the region on Sunday.
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers.
The situation rapidly deteriorated.
First responders attend the scene of a deadly plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday. The crash, which killed nine people, is being investigated by federal officials. (Mark Elias/The Associated Press)
The pilot requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (610 metres), then quickly declared an emergency as the jet lost altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed, before delivering a devastating acknowledgment of what was about to happen. “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The plane banked sharply to the right before crashing and exploding.
“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at the scene. “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”