A Learjet nosedived into a road, killing 9 on board. Now investigators are probing what caused the ‘cataclysmic plane crash’

In the blink of an eye, a private jet plummeting 450 feet per second nosedived into a Florida roadway, bursting into flames and killing all nine people on board .

“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “It looked like a missile going down.”

The Learjet 60 was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas on Sunday when it plunged from the sky, leaving a massive crater near passing cars in Palm Beach County, Florida. No injuries were reported from the ground.

Authorities have not identified the nine people killed on board or what might have caused the disaster. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and is expected to hold a news conference Monday.

Vanessa Lara/UGC/Reuters

Learjet crashes and erupts into flames in Florida, killing all 9 on board

Air traffic radio calls capturing the pilot’s voice describe the flight’s frantic final moments.

Before the crash, the pilot calmly reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, with an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius (-52 degrees Fahrenheit), as well as moderate turbulence that bounced the plane by up to 700 feet, according to a recording of air traffic control radio calls captured by LiveATC.net .

But moments later, the pilot shouted, “Mayday, mayday!” in an increasingly panicked voice.

Audio captures moments before Learjet crash

Minutes before the crash, the pilot of the plane reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius, and moderate turbulence.

“We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!” the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.

“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” they yelled. “We’re going to crash into the ground!”

In reality, the jet plummeted 27,000 feet in one minute, just before flight tracking data was cut off, the website ADS-B Exchange shows.

Weather is emerging as a major factor in the investigation.

There were scattered storms in the area at the time, and the plane passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before it began descending. But it is unclear if the storm contributed to the crash.

Even in warm weather, thunderstorms generate powerful updrafts, or columns of rising air that cool rapidly. The higher the altitude, the colder the air gets. And temperatures in these updrafts can drop to as low as -100 degrees Fahrenheit at the altitudes where planes fly.

Ice on wings and other surfaces can also pose a major threat to private jets. In January 2024, the NTSB published a safety alert emphasizing the risks of in-flight icing conditions, which can cause pilots to lose control.

Ice can “make managing the airplane’s flightpath and airspeed more difficult and can prevent the airplane from maintaining level flight,” the NTSB said.

Planes are equipped with strong anti-ice systems. But in some cases, the system cannot keep up with the icing.

The plane hit the ground shortly before 1 p.m. on Military Trail, a major thoroughfare between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. The roadway was left shattered and burning wreckage dotted the crater, video from CNN affiliate WPBF showed.

“There is a lot of debris that was strewn as a result of this crash,” DeSantis said.

Eduin Cruz/UGC/Reuters

The scene is just miles from the airport in West Palm Beach that was recently renamed for President Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago resort.

About 600 people are in need of shelter because the damage on the ground is blocking the entrance to a mobile home park, said Joel Flores, Palm Beach County commissioner for District 3, who was the first county official at the scene. Residents are being sent to two shelters in the county while the site is being investigated, he said.

“I heard and felt the boom,” Andrew Mannino told CNN. “The power immediately went out and is still out.”

Mannino said he smelled the smoke and saw a large black cloud in the sky.

Sunday’s crash marked the second deadliest plane crash in the US this year, according to NTSB records. In June, 12 people died when a skydiving plane crashed in Butler, Missouri.

The catastrophe is also the deadliest crash involving a Learjet 60, according to data from the Flight Safety Foundation. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff from Columbia, South Carolina.

Dashcam video showing the crash will be important to investigators piecing together what happened, said Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation.

Saul Martinez/Getty Images

“That is not a controlled descent,” Schiavo told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield Sunday. “It’s clear, whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane.”

The steep descent could have forced parts of the plane to break off and the flight data recorder could have been destroyed in the explosion, she added.

It’s not clear if the plane had a cockpit voice recorder on board, but FAA regulations require jet aircraft with more than one engine to carry a voice recorder if they are flown for hire.

The plane is registered to an LLC in Delaware, according to FAA records, and is listed as available for charter online.

CNN’s Angela Fritz and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.

一架私人飞机以每秒 450 英尺的速度俯冲而下，瞬间坠入佛罗里达州的一条公路，随即起火燃烧，机上九人全部遇难。

“这是一起灾难性的飞机坠毁事故，”州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯说。“看起来就像一枚导弹坠落。”

周日，一架里尔60型喷气式飞机从德克萨斯州奥斯汀飞往巴哈马群岛途中坠毁，在佛罗里达州棕榈滩县附近留下一个巨大的弹坑，弹坑旁有过往车辆。地面上无人受伤。

当局尚未公布机上九名遇难者的身份，也未查明事故原因。美国国家运输安全委员会正在进行调查，预计将于周一召开新闻发布会。

Vanessa Lara/UGC/路透社

一架里尔喷气式飞机在佛罗里达州坠毁并起火，机上9人全部遇难。

空中交通无线电通话中，飞行员的声音描述了航班最后疯狂的时刻。

据 LiveATC.net 截获的空中交通管制无线电通话录音显示，在坠机前，飞行员冷静地报告飞机上积冰，当时外部气温为零下 47 摄氏度（零下 52 华氏度），并且有中等程度的湍流，使飞机颠簸了高达 700 英尺。

但片刻之后，飞行员用越来越惊慌的声音喊道：“遇险！遇险！”

音频捕捉里尔喷气式飞机坠毁前的瞬间

飞机坠毁前几分钟，飞行员报告说飞机上积聚了冰，外界气温为零下47摄氏度，并且有中等程度的湍流。

“我们正在以每分钟 10,000 英尺的速度下降！”飞行员告诉迈阿密空中航路交通管制中心。

“我们超速了，正在以每分钟20000英尺的速度下降！”他们喊道，“我们要撞到地面了！”

ADS-B Exchange 网站显示，实际上，这架喷气式飞机在一分钟内骤降了 27000 英尺，就在飞行跟踪数据被切断之前。

天气正逐渐成为调查中的一个重要因素。

事发时该地区有零星雷暴，飞机在开始下降前几分钟穿过了一处较强的风暴云团。但目前尚不清楚这场风暴是否是造成坠机的原因。

即使在温暖的天气里，雷暴也会产生强大的上升气流，也就是迅速冷却的上升气柱。海拔越高，空气越冷。在飞机飞行的高度，这些上升气流中的温度甚至可​​以降至零下100华氏度。

机翼和其他表面结冰也会对私人飞机构成重大威胁。2024年1月，美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）发布安全警示，强调飞行中结冰的风险，因为结冰可能导致飞行员失去对飞机的控制。

美国国家运输安全委员会表示，冰会“使飞机的飞行路径和空速控制更加困难，并可能阻止飞机保持水平飞行”。

飞机都配备了强大的防冰系统。但在某些情况下，该系统无法有效应对结冰问题。

棕榈滩县警长办公室称，飞机于下午1点前不久坠毁在军事大道（Military Trail）上，这条主要干道位于克雷斯特黑文大道（Cresthaven Boulevard）和北10大道（10th Avenue North）之间。CNN附属电视台WPBF的视频显示，路面损毁严重，燃烧的飞机残骸散落在弹坑中。

德桑蒂斯说：“这次坠机事故造成了大量碎片散落一地。”

埃杜因·克鲁兹/UGC/路透社

事发地点距离西棕榈滩机场仅数英里，该机场最近更名为唐纳德·特朗普总统及其海湖庄园度假村。

棕榈滩县第三区专员乔尔·弗洛雷斯表示，由于地面损毁导致移动房屋营地入口被堵，约有600人需要临时安置。弗洛雷斯是首位抵达现场的县政府官员。他表示，在对现场进行调查期间，居民已被安置到县内的两个临时避难所。

安德鲁·曼尼诺告诉CNN：“我听到了爆炸声，也感觉到了爆炸。电力立即中断，至今仍未恢复。”

曼尼诺说他闻到了烟味，还看到天空中有一团巨大的黑云。

根据美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）的记录，周日的坠机事故是今年美国第二起最致命的飞机坠毁事故。今年6月，一架跳伞飞机在密苏里州巴特勒坠毁，造成12人死亡。

根据飞行安全基金会的数据，这起灾难也是里尔60型飞机历史上最致命的一次坠机事故。2008年，一架从南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚起飞前往洛杉矶的里尔60型飞机在起飞时坠毁，造成四人死亡。

美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）航空分析师、前交通部监察长玛丽·斯基亚沃表示，行车记录仪拍摄的事故视频对于调查人员还原事故经过至关重要。

Saul Martinez/Getty Images

“那不是可控下降，”希亚沃周日告诉CNN的弗雷德里卡·惠特菲尔德。“很明显，不管发生了什么，他们都失去了对飞机的控制。”

她补充说，陡峭的下降可能导致飞机部分部件脱落，飞行数据记录器也可能在爆炸中被摧毁。

目前尚不清楚飞机上是否装有驾驶舱语音记录器，但美国联邦航空管理局 (FAA) 的规定要求，如果喷气式飞机（拥有多个发动机）用于商业飞行，则必须携带语音记录器。

根据美国联邦航空管理局的记录，这架飞机注册在特拉华州的一家有限责任公司名下，并在网上列为可供包机服务。

CNN的Angela Fritz和Alexandra Skores对本报道亦有贡献。