Nine people were killed in Southeast Florida on Nov. 1 after a private jet nosedived into a fiery explosion in Palm Beach County.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that a Learjet 60 crashed in a neighborhood near Cresthaven, Florida, at 12:50 p.m. ET. It was en route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Nine people were on board and they were all killed.
He also said the Federal Aviation Administration was sending a team to the site to assist the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation.
Videos of the tragedy from eyewitnesses spread across social media, showing a relatively small business jet colliding with the ground as bits of fire spread across a busy roadway in close proximity to private homes.
That exact position was near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North at the entrance to a mobile home park. Roads in both directions were closed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office as first responders rushed to the scene.
“The crash caused significant debris, damage to surrounding infrastructure, and prompted road closures and evacuations in the adjacent community,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on X.
More than 600 residents of the mobile home park are being evacuated by local authorities as the investigation gets underway.
County officials estimated that the crater would block southbound traffic down Military Trail, affecting the only entrance to that mobile home park, and they planned to sign an emergency declaration for the matter.
It was not immediately known if anyone other than the nine aboard the plane were killed or injured, or the extent of property damage caused by the crash. Authorities did not immediately release the reason why the plane crashed.
According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net and others, the plane was flying over Florida at 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence and icing and requested to climb an additional 2,000 feet. Moments later, the plane entered a steep dive that reached a speed of more than 30,000 feet per minute.
“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 pilot banked sharply to the right before crashing.
“Today’s plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, is a horrific tragedy,” Duffy said on X.
“Please join me in praying for the families and loved ones of those we lost —@FAANews & @USDOT are closely monitoring this crash and will share updates as we learn more,” he added.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at the scene that the plane left an impact crater in the ground.
“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” DeSantis said. “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”
The Bombardier Learjet 60 was built between 1993 and 2007. It’s a midsize jet known to have a best-in-class climb rate, able reach 41,000 feet in 18 minutes with two Pratt & Whitney engines.
According to private jet charter platform Quantum Jets, this jet was built to hold five to seven passengers with a maximum of eight and is typically operated by two pilots.
It has a range of more than 2,400 nautical miles and has a normal cruising speed just over 500 mph.
The Nov. 1 learjet crash occurred within a 16-minute drive of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and just over three miles away from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
The Epoch Times reached out to Bombardier for comment on the matter, and the company replied via email with its official statement.
“We at Bombardier are deeply saddened by this tragic event and extend our sincerest sympathies to all those affected,” the statement reads. “We cannot comment on the potential cause of this accident until the investigation is complete and we will fully support the investigating authorities and cooperate as needed.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
