Nine people, including a family of four and a 20-year-old co-pilot, died late Sunday afternoon when a Bahamas-bound Learjet 60 plummeted into a Palm Beach County roadway in Greenacres, Florida, erupting in a catastrophic explosion that left investigators examining whether the aircraft broke apart mid-air. Ron DeSantis described the disaster as a cataclysmic plane crash, noting that the aircraft nosedived at 450 feet per second and looked like a missile going down, nine miles from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
A Rapid Descent and Severe Weather Warnings
According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net and detailed by the BBC, the flight crew transmitted that they were picking up precipitation and encountering moderate turbulence, requesting a climb to 37,000 feet. The transmission then became unintelligible, and the jet plummeted 27,000 feet in one minute, just before flight tracking data was cut off, according to the ADS-B Exchange website.
NTSB is launching a go-team to investigate Sunday’s crash of a Learjet 60 airplane in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. Investigators are arriving at the accident site today and tomorrow morning. Media briefing will be held in West Palm Beach on Monday. Time and location to be announced…
Federal Aviation Administration records and AccuWeather data showed active warnings for pilots regarding nearly stationary thunderstorms in the region with cloud tops reaching 45,000 feet. The situation deteriorated rapidly within seconds. “We are going to crash into the ground,” the pilot stated moments before contact, with the last remark from the cockpit appearing to be we’re out of time
about 35 seconds after the initial mayday announcement.
National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman stated during a news conference that investigators found evidence the aircraft started breaking up before hitting the ground, potentially scattering debris across a wide area. Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, noted that key components of the tail may have been lost during turbulence or the nosedive, rendering the plane uncontrollable and creating what Ron DeSantis described as a missile-like profile. The NTSB confirmed that ice and turbulence were factors in the crash, but stated that determining its probable cause will be a lengthy investigatory process.
Victims Identified as Families Mourn
Relatives identified the 20-year-old co-pilot as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras. Filgueiras earned her pilot’s license in 2023 at age 17 as a senior at West Boca Raton Community High School, through a specialized aviation academy funded by the Palm Beach County School District. Her father began flying for fun in 2018, and Filgueiras previously told an outlet, I like being different than everyone, so to me, I think it’s, like, cool,
adding that some people think that it’s, like, weird because I can fly planes, but I can’t drive a car.
Her mother, Camila Gadelha Corteleti, described her as a very good, responsible, and hardworking girl. The identity of the other pilot was not immediately disclosed, with the families of the seven stating, Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us.
The crash also claimed the lives of technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children, 4-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Charlie, alongside Anita Maria Cetina, who cared for the children. Family members confirmed the identities of two additional victims as Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, while the identity of the second pilot was withheld pending notification.
Investigation and Community Impact
The NTSB, working alongside the FAA, Learjet representatives, meteorologists, and air traffic control experts, faces a daunting challenge recovering major wreckage from the impact crater on the Greenacres roadway. Investigators are working to determine weather conditions at the 36,000-foot altitude where the crew first reported trouble, while also searching for a cockpit voice recorder.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel G. Flores stated that authorities have no clear timeline for when residents of nearly 80 mobile homes near the crash site can return to their properties while forensic teams comb the debris field. The NTSB expects to release a preliminary report within 30 days, while a definitive determination of probable cause could take one to two years.
