The crater is still there on Military Trail, half-filled with storm water, ringed by debris that drifted into sports fields, shopfronts and homes. And somewhere in that wreckage, investigators believe, is the answer to why nine people died on a Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach.
New details emerged on Monday that have shifted the shape of the investigation: parts of the Learjet 60 may have broken away while the aircraft was still in the air.
“We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact,” said Tom Chapman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.”
A Descent Nobody Could Stop
The jet had left Austin, Texas, bound for the Bahamas. Instead, at roughly 12:50 local time, it came down almost vertically onto a six-lane road lined with businesses and restaurants, and exploded.
Flight data suggests the aircraft was falling hundreds of feet per second.
The air traffic control recordings capture a crew working a problem in real time. A voice in the cockpit reports moderate turbulence and says the crew is managing ice. Then the plane is picking up precipitation, and they need to climb.
Moments later, that same voice reports a descent rate of 10,000 feet per minute.
An emergency is declared. The cockpit calls out an overspeed condition, descending at 20,000 feet per minute. Then the words that end the recording: they are going to crash into the ground.
The Recovery Problem
The NTSB’s central difficulty is physical. Lead investigator Tim Monville told reporters the biggest obstacle is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway.
The crater, near the entrance to a mobile home park, has partly filled with water after severe storms. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were reported in the area at the time of the crash — conditions the board said would be a major focus of its inquiry.
Investigators are also working to establish whether a cockpit voice recorder was aboard, and whether it can be retrieved.
The People on Board
Seven passengers and two crew members died.
In a joint statement, the family named tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson; his wife, Helen Sharp; and their children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two. Also named were family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and nanny Anita Maria Cetina.
The family described Robinson and Sharp as devoted parents whose children were the light of their lives, and called their marriage a love affair that will last forever. Of Cetina, they said she cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion and was truly part of the family. Reed and Fehr were remembered as full of joy and adventure, people who loved fiercely, fully and without hesitation.
Robinson described himself online as founder and chief executive of several technology companies, and had previously worked at Lehman Brothers and Barclays.
The Crew
Media reports named the pilot as 55-year-old Jeffrey Gregory, married with two children. His former employer, East Coast Jets, said it was deeply saddened to learn he was among those who died.
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The co-pilot was reported to be 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras, who earned her pilot’s licence while still in high school.
Her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed her death to US media, telling the New York Times that her daughter loved the freedom of flight and saw the world differently from above. In a 2023 interview, Filgueiras said she liked being different — some people found it strange that she could fly a plane but not drive a car.
One man in a car on the ground suffered a leg injury.