A Learjet 60 traveling from Austin, Texas to the Bahamas crashed on Military Trail in Palm Beach on Sunday at approximately 12:50 local time, killing all nine people onboard and injuring one person in a vehicle on the ground. The aircraft created a large crater on the six-lane roadway near a mobile home park, scattering debris across sports fields, businesses, and homes in the surrounding area.
The National Transportation Safety Board stated that evidence suggests the aircraft experienced structural breakup before impact. Investigators face significant challenges in recovering wreckage from the crater, which has been partially filled with water due to severe storms and heavy rainfall in the region at the time of the crash. Officials are also attempting to locate and recover the cockpit voice recorder to aid the investigation. Weather conditions remain a primary focus of the probe.
Air traffic control recordings captured crew communications indicating moderate turbulence and ice management efforts. The transmissions show the aircraft experiencing severe descent rates, with one final message stating the plane was descending at 20,000 feet per minute before impact. Flight analysis data indicates the jet was plummeting hundreds of feet per second before crashing.
The passengers and crew have been identified as tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, nanny Anita Maria Cetina, pilot Jeffrey Gregory, and 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras. Robinson led multiple technology companies and had previously worked for Lehman Brothers and Barclays. A joint family statement described the deceased as devoted individuals full of warmth and generosity.
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