Florida Learjet Crash: Pilots Reported Icing and Turbulence in Final Calls, About 600 Residents Evacuated
Air traffic control recordings from the final minutes of the Learjet 60 that crashed Sunday, November 1, near Greenacres in Palm Beach County, Florida, have been reported by the Associated Press. Heading east at 35,000 feet, the pilots reported turbulence, icing and precipitation and requested to climb 2,000 feet; minutes before the crash, a pilot reported ice accumulating on the jet and turbulence jolting it by as much as 700 feet, according to recordings captured by LiveATC.net.
"We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence," the pilot told controllers. The situation then deteriorated rapidly: after encountering precipitation and requesting the climb, the pilot declared an emergency. "We're descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we're descending 10,000 feet per minute," the pilot radioed, then reported an overspeed condition at 20,000 feet per minute before a final transmission: "We're going to crash into the ground." According to the recordings and flight tracking data, the descent reached up to 30,000 feet per minute, beyond the jet's design limits, and the aircraft banked sharply to the right before striking the ground.
Palm Beach County authorities said about 600 people from a nearby mobile home community are being evacuated while federal officials investigate, and the road at the crash site will remain closed until further notice. The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas bound for the Bahamas; all nine people on board were killed, and the victims have not been named.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking to reporters at the scene, called it a "cataclysmic plane crash," saying the aircraft "looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road," and said there were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground killed or injured. Rain pounded the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon due to excessive rainfall.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation, with its go-team arriving Sunday and Monday and a media briefing planned for Monday in West Palm Beach. The cause of the crash has not been determined, and the situation is still developing.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 一架Learjet 60公务机（资料图，非涉事飞机）。Cory W. Watts摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / A Learjet 60 business jet (file photo, not the accident aircraft). Photo by Cory W. Watts, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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