Palm Beach County Learjet Crash: Nine Killed After 27,000-Foot Dive

A private business jet plunged from the sky in Palm Beach County on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard in the deadliest accident involving that aircraft model in its history. The Learjet 60 struck the earth near a busy thoroughfare in Greenacres, a community roughly seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the event as a "horrific tragedy" in a social media post, urging the public to pray for the families of the victims. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the crash occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time.

The aircraft had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas with a destination of North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. Officials have not yet released the names of the nine individuals killed, nor have they specified the ratio of passengers to crew. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for the Austin airport, characterized the jet as a private aircraft and stated that he could not identify the flight’s occupants. "This is definitely a tragedy," Reynolds told the Associated Press. The NTSB is leading the investigation and said Sunday it was launching a go-team, and it planned a media briefing for Monday in West Palm Beach.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the crash site and described the scene as a "cataclysmic plane crash." He noted that the jet left a large crater on the side of the road and compared the visual impact to a missile descending. DeSantis stated that there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths among people on the ground, though he praised the rapid response of local first responders. The debris field stretched a long distance.

Resident Anthony Blackmon, who was about 500 feet from the crash, recounted that debris struck his home and that the road and surrounding area were engulfed in flames. "I've always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today," Blackmon said. Neighbors reported feeling the aircraft pass overhead before the impact shook their homes. Andrew Mannino, a local witness, described hearing a boom and feeling the power cut out immediately. He observed a large black cloud rising into the air. Another witness described the aftermath as looking like a meteor had struck the ground.

Video recorded by people in nearby cars captured the jet plunging from the sky, striking near the roadway, and exploding. Flames flickered around chunks of pavement lining the crater, which was located only feet from residential homes and inches from passing vehicles. Thick black smoke obscured the site, and the road buckled where the jet made impact.

Approximately 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night. County officials said the crash site blocks the entrance to the mobile home park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. No official has alleged that a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who was the first county official at the scene, said residents were being sent to two county shelters. "So we have about 600 people that we have to make sure that they have shelter tonight," Flores said. He said the Red Cross was standing by, and county officials said Palm Tran buses were ready to carry residents once law enforcement allowed the evacuation.

Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive, restricting access to emergency vehicles only. The county advised drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. A county commissioner warned that the road closure could remain in effect for an extended period because of the crater, and officials said the timeline also depends on the federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data indicate the jet was flying east at approximately 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. The crew requested a climb of 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that they were experiencing "light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence." The pilot also reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that was bouncing the jet by as much as 700 feet.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the request to climb. The pilot radioed, "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." The pilot then reported an overspeed condition with a descent rate of 20,000 feet per minute. According to CBS News, the pilot stated, "We're out of time." The descent rate reached as high as 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond its design limits. The plane banked sharply to the right before hitting the ground at a steep angle.

The FAA stated the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute just before impact. Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the signal was lost. The aircraft passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before the descent began, an area where the FAA had issued a convective SIGMET warning of thunderstorms. Whether the weather conditions played a direct role in the crash has not been determined. Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. "That is not a controlled descent," Schiavo said. "So at that point, it's clear whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane." She noted that the steep dive could have torn parts off the aircraft and that a flight recorder may have been destroyed in the explosion. It is not known whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, which is only required for multi-engine jets flown for hire. Records indicate the jet was offered for charter flights.

Flight tracking and FAA registry data identify the jet by its registration, N722BD. The FAA registry lists it as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. CNN reported the jet is listed online as available for charter. Officials have not identified the operator of Sunday's flight. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, warning that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult and can prevent the airplane from maintaining level flight.

The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data cited by CNN. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. NTSB records show this is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. Learjet, the brand that Bill Lear's Lear 23 made famous with wealthy travelers in the 1960s, was most recently built by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier. Bombardier stopped making new Learjets in 2021 but still supports the planes in service.

CNN reported that President Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier Sunday and left the airport on Air Force One a little more than an hour before the crash. The airport, located about four miles north of the crash site, was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year. No cause has been determined.