The pilot of the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday made a last string of mayday calls. One said the jet was “in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” according to air traffic control recordings reported by the Associated Press. All nine people on board died, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
Updated November 2: As of Monday morning, authorities still had not publicly identified the nine people who died, CBS12 reported. Displaced residents were moved to the Greenacres Community Center. The NTSB was expected to brief reporters later Monday in West Palm Beach.
The final words heard from the cockpit were a rapid “we’re out of time.” That came about 35 seconds after the first mayday, ABC reported from the recordings.
Those calls, archived by LiveATC.net, are the most detailed public account so far of the jet’s final minutes. Unlike a slow-building threat such as the hijack text that turned back United Flight 1681, this emergency unfolded in seconds. The crew narrated it to a controller as it happened.
The National Transportation Safety Board now leads the investigation, with support from the Federal Aviation Administration. It planned a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday.
A jet bound for the Bahamas came down beside a busy road
The twin-engine jet took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. It was flying to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the FAA said in its statement. It crashed in a residential area near Cresthaven around 12:50 p.m. local time.
FAA data showed the plane fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in a little over a minute, ABC News reported. Flightradar24 said its descent rate at one point topped 32,000 feet per minute.
The jet hit the ground near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in the Greenacres area.
“It looked like a missile going down. It left a big crater on the side of the road,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters. He said he had no immediate reports of anyone hurt or killed on the ground.
County officials moved about 600 people out of a nearby mobile home community. “So we have about 600 people that we have to make sure that they have shelter tonight,” said County Commissioner Joel Flores. His comments came via NBC 6 South Florida.
Authorities have not named the nine people who died. They also have not said how many were crew and how many were passengers.
The FAA registry lists the jet, N722BD, under LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. ABC News said records show the plane had served as a rental in the past. No one has said publicly who operated Sunday’s flight.
Ice, turbulence and a request to climb
The jet was heading east at 35,000 feet when the pilot reported weather building around it, according to the AP. “We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers.
Fox 13 Tampa Bay published a longer version of the exchange. In it, the controller asks for the outside air temperature, and the pilot answers minus 47 degrees Celsius. The pilot then reports precipitation and says, “We need to climb.”
The AP said the crew asked to climb 2,000 feet. Turbulence had jolted the jet by as much as 700 feet, it reported.
The controller cleared the climb. The next calls came fast: “We’re descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.” Then came the overspeed report, and then “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The controller stayed on the frequency. “I’m here with you. Talk to me,” the controller said, according to Fox 13’s transcript, and then: “Let me know what you need.”
In Fox 13’s transcript, the pilot also said the jet was “banking 60 degrees.” The AP reported that the plane banked sharply right before it hit the ground. Outlets transcribing the audio differ on a few words, so the exact wording may change once the NTSB releases its own record.
Why the calls point investigators toward a loss of control
Read in order, the calls describe an airplane that left normal flight within about a minute. The FAA’s guidance on upset prevention and recovery training sets the lines for an “airplane upset.” They include a nose-down pitch of more than 10 degrees or a bank of more than 45 degrees.
A reported 60-degree bank and a dive of tens of thousands of feet per minute sit far past both. Dashcam video showed the jet in a near-vertical dive before impact, Aviation International News reported. The AP said the dive went beyond the jet’s design limits, which is what an “overspeed” call warns about.
What the calls cannot say is what started the upset. Investigators will weigh the weather, the airplane’s systems and instruments, and how the crew responded.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo told the AP that icing and turbulence could have played a part. He said they might have led to a stall at about 34,000 feet, but that investigators won’t rule anything out yet.
Mike Slack, an aviation attorney, pilot and former NASA aerospace engineer, reviewed the audio for CBS Austin. “So I would say that the probabilities favor a weather-induced event,” he said. He also asked: “Why was the airplane where it was when it encountered this weather?”
Heavy rain hit the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service put a flood watch in place through Monday afternoon, the AP said.
Radio calls carry only what the crew chose to tell a controller. Investigators have not said whether the jet carried a cockpit voice or flight data recorder. They also have not said whether they have recovered one.
How the NTSB rebuilds the final minute
“The NTSB is launching a go-team to investigate the accident,” the agency said, according to CBS Austin. Under the NTSB’s investigative process, that team works the scene. Others gather flight logs, maintenance records and interviews away from it.
Federal rules make the aircraft’s operator responsible for preserving the wreckage until the board takes custody. That duty, in 49 CFR 830.10, covers flight, maintenance and voice recorder media too. The rule allows moving wreckage early only to rescue people, protect the public or prevent further damage.
The NTSB also names “parties” to help, meaning organizations whose employees, functions or products had a role. Under 49 CFR 831.11, no party representative may hold a legal position or represent claimants or insurers. Bombardier, the Learjet’s Canadian maker, said it would fully support the investigation, ABC reported.
Investigators will match the radio calls against flight-tracking data, weather records and the wreckage. Recorded words have driven other recent crash inquiries too. In Spain’s deadly train crash, leaked control-center recordings put one order at the center. The words set the timeline, and the physical evidence tests it.
A preliminary report in weeks, a cause in one to two years
In recent cases, the NTSB has said to expect a preliminary report within 30 days. It gave that timeline after a July helicopter crash in West Virginia, WSLS reported. That report lays out early facts but does not name a cause.
The final report, with a probable cause, comes much later. The agency says it “tries to complete an investigation within 12 to 24 months,” depending on complexity and workload.
Investigators expected to reach the crash site on Sunday and Monday, the AP reported. Next is Monday’s NTSB briefing in West Palm Beach, the first scheduled media briefing on the crash.
