Officials 'hopeful' for black box recovery in Florida jet crash - USA Today

A business jet may have begun breaking apart in midair before crashing into a South Florida community, killing all nine people aboard and scattering debris across a wide area, federal investigators said Monday, Nov. 2.

The Learjet 60 crashed at around 12:50 p.m. ET on Nov. 1 as the aircraft was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, according to authorities. The jet crashed in Palm Beach County, less than 10 miles from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, killing two crew members and seven passengers.

All nine people on the plane were killed in the crash, and a man on the ground suffered a leg injury, officials said. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office said it had not yet officially identified the victims, though family members have identified several of those aboard, including a family of four and copilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20.

During a news conference Monday, National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas Chapman said investigators have found evidence the aircraft began breaking apart before impact, though officials have not determined what caused the crash. NTSB investigators declined to speculate on what could have brought down the plane.

"We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact," he said. "We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site."

Harrowing audio from the cockpit revealed the crew was managing ice and moderate turbulence before they reported a rapid descent and issued a mayday call. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were moving through the area at the time, forecaster AccuWeather said in a statement.

Videos captured the jet nosediving into the ground near a busy roadway and the entrance to a mobile home community before erupting into flames. Investigators said the crash left behind a massive debris field and sparked multiple fires that forced about 600 people to evacuate.

Chapman, the NTSB board member, said records indicate a cockpit voice recorder, also known as a black box, was installed on the aircraft at some point, but investigators don’t know whether that recorder was still on board before the crash.

"We’re very hopeful that we can recover it," he said.

Despite the name, the units are usually bright orange so searchers can find them in wreckage. Manufacturers build them to survive severe impact, fire, and deep water.

Chapman said investigators will be better off if the device is found, but without it they'll "still be able to do some incredible detective work and determine how things transpired."

In an interview outside her Boca Raton, Florida, home, the sister of Filgueiras said the 20-year-old copilot "fought until the last moment she could." Giulia Filgueiras, 21, said Nathalia was a brave, "amazing girl" who always followed her dreams.

She wanted to be a pilot since she was 12, Giulia Filgueiras said, and "showed any girl could do what it takes."

Her mother, Camila Corteleti, said her daughter co-piloted the jet, had logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time and earned her pilot’s license at 17, the New York Times and the New York Post reported. She said her daughter worked for Upper Jets, a private charter firm based in Fort Lauderdale.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Upper Jets offered condolences to everyone affected by the crash and said it is cooperating with local, state, and federal authorities.

"Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this tragedy," the company said. "We are committed to supporting the families of all those who lost a loved one yesterday, and are praying for them as we grieve together."

In a statement on his personal X account, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman highlighted the harrowing experience of those on the aircraft, including the 20-year-old copilot. Isaacman, an experienced pilot who said he has logged more than 8,000 flight hours, noted that Filgueiras was the aircraft's second-in-command and was communicating with air traffic control until the end.

"She was doing her job, communicating with (air traffic control) right to the end in a terrifying situation," Isaacman wrote. "She likely knew before many of those calls that she was going to die."

Isaacman urged the public not to speculate about the cause of the crash before investigators complete their work, saying questions remain about the aircraft's maintenance history, the possibility of a structural failure and the role weather or turbulence may have played.

Family members identified the passengers as Adam Robinson, 45; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; their children, Charlie, 4, and Emma, 2; the children's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.

"We are deeply grateful to the first responders, investigators, and the Palm Beach County community for their care, and to everyone who has reached out with love," the families of the passengers in the crash said in a joint statement on Nov. 2. "Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us." Read more here.

Experts who reviewed flight path data, radar images, and the final breathless words of the ill-fated plane’s copilot told the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, the jet in its last moments may have been trying to fly above an explosive thunderstorm, whose intense upward rush of moist warm air may have led to the rapid freezing of water droplets that otherwise don’t ice up at higher altitudes.

In severe icing situations, the entire loss of maneuverability can happen, MyRadar Weather senior meteorologist Matthew Cappucci said.

The aircraft crew reported that they were "managing ice" and "picking up precipitation" before the crash, Chapman said. When asked whether attempting to climb when encountering such conditions is the right decision, Chapman told reporters it is one of several possible maneuvers in that situation.

Investigators are still working to determine whether the conditions at the altitude the plane was flying contributed to the crash. "The weather conditions are a major concern of the investigation," Chapman said.

Meanwhile, weather conditions on the ground are making the recovery effort more challenging. Investigators said there is currently water in the impact crater, making it more difficult to access the site.

"The biggest obstacle we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway," NTSB investigator Timothy Monville said.

Aviation experts said a central question for investigators will be what led the flight crew to lose control of the aircraft.

"There's some catastrophic thing that happened," Robert Joslin, a professor in the department of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told USA TODAY.

Joslin reviewed the air traffic control audio as well as videos and images of the crash. He said many factors may have contributed to the loss of control, including ice, which can limit a plane's ability to lift, and turbulence, which can disrupt airflow into the engines and, in severe cases, cause structural damage.

Joslin highlighted the crew member's report declaring an emergency and an "overspeed condition," which means the plane is traveling faster than its maximum operating speed. Such speeds can lead to a wide array of system failures and damage, Joslin said.

He emphasized that the cause of the crash remains under investigation. Experts with the NTSB, he added, will pull maintenance records, survey the weather conditions at altitude, analyze any black box recordings that are recovered, and much more. "There's a lot of information to be gathered," he said.

The FAA said the Learjet 60 departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it crashed.

Moments before the crash, a person in the cockpit said the crew was "managing the ice," encountering "moderate" turbulence and seeking "better rides," according to audio posted by LiveATC, a website that broadcasts air traffic control communications.

Less than a minute later, the person issued a mayday call and reported the aircraft was descending at 10,000 feet per minute. Seconds later, they declared an emergency and said the descent rate had accelerated to 20,000 feet per minute.

"We're going to crash into the ground," the person said. About 35 seconds after the initial distress call, the last cockpit transmission was: "We're out of time."

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said data showed the vertical descent rate at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute.