Investigators have finished their work at a quiet residential street in Greenacres, Florida, where a Learjet 60 came down on November 1 and took the lives of all nine people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board has returned the site and carried the cockpit voice recorder away to its laboratory, so that the last words and sounds of that flight can be read. The evidence scattered across more than three miles of ground suggests the aircraft was already coming apart in the sky before it fell, though the reason why remains a question the investigation has not yet answered. For the famil
NTSB Recovers Cockpit Voice Recorder as On-Scene Work Ends in South Florida Learjet Crash
All nine people aboard died, including a pilot, a tech entrepreneur, his wife, their two young children, family friends and a nanny.
Debris from the tail lay more than 3.8 miles from the crater
Mark
The scene is released and the voice recorder is out. Why does that matter so much?
Mimi
Because the recorder is the one piece that can put words and sounds to the final minutes. The crew had already reported icing and severe turbulence and then called Mayday, so the audio may show what they were facing.
Mark
And the debris more than 3.8 miles from the crater?
Mimi
It tells you pieces fell away before impact. A tail section that far from the crater is a strong sign the aircraft broke up in flight.
Luke
Careful, though. Chapman confirmed investigators found evidence of breakup before impact. The fuller sequence, with tail surfaces detaching and then a nose-down dive, is what the evidence suggests, not a finding.
Mark
So what's actually established?
Luke
The debris location, the Mayday, the crew's weather report, and the recovered recorder. Why the tail separated is unknown. It could be weather loads, a structural problem, or something else, and nobody has said which.
Mimi
The storm is part of the picture, but the NTSB still has to map the flight track against the cell before anyone can say what role it played.
Mark
What should readers expect next?
Luke
A preliminary report in weeks. That will list facts, not a cause. The probable cause could take up to two years.
Mimi
And nine people died, including two young children and a 20-year-old co-pilot. The investigation is slow because it has to be right.
El Pulso
- A Learjet 60 bound from Austin for the Bahamas met severe icing and turbulence, and the crew's Mayday came only after the co-pilot reported the danger.
- Debris, including a section of tail, was flung more than 3.8 miles from the crater, a sign the jet broke apart while still moving fast.
- Heavy rain filled the impact crater with water and slowed recovery until pumps cleared it, forcing investigators to work against the weather again.
- The NTSB has released the scene and is now racing through cockpit audio, flight data, radar, and airframe examination to learn the order of failure.
- A preliminary report is due within weeks, but the probable cause may take up to two years to settle.
Investigators have finished their work at a quiet residential street in Greenacres, Florida, where a Learjet 60 came down on November 1 and took the lives of all nine people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board has returned the site and carried the cockpit voice recorder away to its laboratory, so that the last words and sounds of that flight can be read. The evidence scattered across more than three miles of ground suggests the aircraft was already coming apart in the sky before it fell, though the reason why remains a question the investigation has not yet answered. For the families, and for a community that watched the smoke rise, the work now moves from the ground into patient analysis.
The National Transportation Safety Board has finished its work at the crash site in Greenacres, Florida, and handed the scene back. The Learjet 60 went down on November 1, killing all nine people on board. Before leaving, investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder, which is now at the NTSB laboratory in Washington for readout and audio analysis.
The wreckage tells a story of breakup in the air. NTSB Board Member Tom Chapman said investigators found signs the aircraft began to come apart before striking the ground. Debris, including a piece of the tail, was scattered more than 3.8 miles from the crater. The jet had left Austin Bergstrom International Airport bound for the Bahamas and encountered severe weather along the way. Air traffic control audio captured co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras reporting icing and severe turbulence before the crew called a Mayday. The emerging picture is of a loss of control, the loss of critical tail surfaces, and a steep, fast descent into a residential roadway. This is what the evidence currently suggests, not a finding; no cause has been determined.
The people aboard were two crew members and seven passengers. Captain Jeff Gregory, the pilot in command, was a veteran charter and commercial aviator from Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, was a Brazilian American pilot who grew up in Boca Raton. Among the passengers were Adam Robinson, an Austin tech entrepreneur and founder of Retention, RB2B and MoltSets; his wife, Helen Sharep; and their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. Family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr died, as did the family nanny, Anita Maria Cetina.
With the wreckage documented, the work now shifts to laboratories and data. Analysts will study the voice recording, map flight data against a severe convective storm that grew along the route, and examine the tail and other structures to establish the sequence of failure. A preliminary report is expected within weeks. The probable cause may take up to two years.
Investigators have finished their work at the site of the Learjet 60 crash in Greenacres, Florida, and the National Transportation Safety Board has handed the scene back. The jet went down on November 1 and killed all nine people aboard. Before leaving, the team recovered the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder, which has been sent to the NTSB laboratory in Washington for readout and audio analysis.
The physical evidence points to the aircraft coming apart in the air. NTSB Board Member Tom Chapman confirmed that investigators found signs the plane began to break up before it hit the ground. Debris, including a section of the tail, was located more than 3.8 miles (6.11 km) from the crater the jet left in Greenacres. A spread of wreckage that wide is consistent with pieces separating while the aircraft was still moving at speed.
The flight had departed Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) for the Bahamas. Review of weather and atmospheric conditions suggests the jet met severe weather along the way. According to air traffic control audio, co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras reported icing conditions and severe turbulence above 700 feet (213 meters). That report came before the crew issued a Mayday call.
The account that emerges is of a loss of control and the detachment of critical tail control surfaces, which left the aircraft uncontrollable. It then descended nose-down at high speed and struck a residential roadway in Florida. The impact crater initially filled with water from heavy rain, which slowed parts of the recovery until it was pumped out. This sequence is the picture the evidence currently suggests, not a finding; the NTSB has not yet determined a cause.
The nine people aboard were two crew members and seven passengers. Captain Jeff Gregory, the pilot in command, was a veteran aviator from Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, with a background in charter and commercial flying. Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was 20, a Brazilian American pilot who grew up in Boca Raton, Florida.
Among the passengers was Adam Robinson, an Austin-based tech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of the software platforms Retention, RB2B and MoltSets. His wife, Helen Sharep, and their two children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, also died. So did family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and the family nanny, Anita Maria Cetina.
With all wreckage documented and components collected, the NTSB now turns to laboratory and data work. That includes analysis of the audio from the voice recorder. Investigators will map the flight data and track against the severe convective storm cell that grew along the route, allowing a radar and meteorological reconstruction of the flight. A structural examination of the airframe, including the tail assemblies, will run alongside it to establish the order in which the structure failed.
A preliminary report is expected within the next few weeks. The probable cause is not expected for up to two years.
Citas Notables
Investigators have found evidence the plane began to break up in the air before it hit the ground.— NTSB Board Member Tom Chapman (paraphrased)
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