GREENACRES, Fla. — Federal investigators are set to brief the public Monday in West Palm Beach on the crash of a Learjet 60 that fell out of a rainy sky Sunday afternoon and slammed into a Palm Beach County road, killing all nine people on board.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the business jet went down at about 12:50 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration said the flight had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the inquiry with FAA help, and no cause has been named.
The jet struck beside Military Trail near 10th Avenue North, leaving a crater in the pavement just short of a mobile home community. Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the scene that there were no early reports of anyone hurt on the ground.
Flight tracking data and air traffic control recordings show the crew was cruising east near 35,000 feet when they reported ice building on the aircraft, rough turbulence and precipitation, then asked to go 2,000 feet higher. Soon after, the jet began a dive that sped up from about 10,000 to as much as 30,000 feet per minute. A pilot declared an emergency over the radio before the plane rolled hard to the right and hit the ground.
Heavy rain was falling across the region, and a flood watch remained in effect into Monday afternoon.
County officials moved about 600 residents out of the nearby mobile home park, and the Greenacres Community Center, 501 Swain Blvd., took in evacuees. Military Trail is blocked from 10th Avenue North up to Cresthaven Boulevard, and officials have warned the closure could stretch for weeks while investigators work and the damaged road is assessed. John I. Leonard High School, near the site, was closed Monday.
Those who died had not been publicly identified as of Monday morning. The Diocese of Palm Beach planned a Monday morning memorial Mass for all nine in nearby Royal Palm Beach.
Section: More Oxford MS crime news
Filed under: Oxford MS Public Safety News
