Investigators examine possible midair breakup in fatal Florida jet crash

Investigators have found evidence that a private jet may have begun breaking apart before it crashed onto a Florida highway, killing all nine people aboard. The crew had reported ice, turbulence and a rapid descent in its final communications with air traffic control.

The Learjet 60 was flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas on Sunday when it plunged into Military Trail, a six-lane road in Palm Beach County, at about 12:50 p.m. local time. It exploded on impact, leaving a crater near the entrance to a mobile home park. One man in a car suffered a leg injury, the BBC reported.

“We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact,” National Transportation Safety Board official Tom Chapman said. “We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.” Debris was scattered across nearby sports fields, businesses and homes, according to the BBC.

Weather will be a major focus of the investigation. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were reported in the area, and the crater was partially filled with water. CBS News reported that weather data showed the jet entering a rapidly intensifying thunderstorm cell shortly before the crew reported icing and significant turbulence.

In air traffic control recordings, the crew reported “moderate turbulence,” said it was “managing the ice,” then reported “picking up precipitation” and said, “we need to climb.” Co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, subsequently reported that the plane was descending at 10,000 feet per minute, CBS News reported.

“Declare an emergency 722 Bravo Delta, we are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” Filgueiras said in the recording. The crew was also heard saying, “we are going to crash into the ground,” according to the BBC.

NTSB lead investigator Tim Monville said recovering the jet from the crater would be difficult. “The biggest obstacle that we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway,” he said. Investigators are also trying to establish whether the aircraft carried a cockpit voice recorder and, if so, whether they can retrieve it.

Robert Sumwalt, a former NTSB chair and CBS News transportation safety expert, said two possible explanations involving the weather were icing and thunderstorm turbulence. CBS News reported that investigators are also examining whether the pilots understood the storm they were approaching and whether the plane’s horizontal stabilizer broke off. No cause has been established.

The seven passengers were Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp, a couple from Austin, their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, and Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina. Robinson was a tech entrepreneur, according to the BBC. The crew members were Filgueiras and captain Jeffrey Gregory, 55, CBS News reported.

In a joint statement, relatives called Robinson and Sharp “devoted parents” and described Reed and Fehr as “full of joy and adventure.” Cetina, they said, cared for the children and “showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion.”

Mikaela Schluth, a friend of Filgueiras since middle school, told CBS News the audio was “the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” She said she was proud of how Filgueiras stayed calm and relayed information “up until the last minute.”