Learjet Crashes Near Florida Homes, All Nine Aboard Killed

A Learjet 60 business jet, registration N722BD, crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, at about 12:50 p.m. local time on Sunday, November 1, killing all nine people on board. The aircraft came down in the Greenacres/Cresthaven area near South Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, close to homes and a mobile home park. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said there were no reports of injuries on the ground; about 600 residents were evacuated as a precaution.

Icing and turbulence reported at 35,000 feet before rapid descent

According to the Associated Press, the flight had departed Austin-Bergstrom Airport in Texas and was bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the FAA said. En route, the crew reported icing, turbulence and precipitation at around 35,000 feet, after which the jet descended extremely rapidly. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed a descent rate approaching or exceeding 20,000 feet per minute, far outside a normal descent profile. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X confirming that all nine people on board were killed, calling it a terrible tragedy.

Wreckage near homes, some 600 residents evacuated

The jet crashed right beside a residential neighbourhood, and images from the scene showed wreckage scattered across roads and grass as firefighters and rescue crews sealed off surrounding streets. Roughly 600 residents were evacuated over concerns about fuel leaks and fire spreading from the wreckage. Governor DeSantis said no injuries on the ground had been reported — a mercy given how close the crash site was to people's homes. The victims had not yet been publicly identified at the time, and officials were working to notify families.

NTSB go-team dispatched; cause not yet known

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has dispatched a go-team to the scene, with the FAA assisting. The cause of the crash is not yet known. Investigators will recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, map the wreckage field, and review the crew's radio reports of icing and turbulence at altitude to determine whether severe weather, a mechanical failure or another factor sent the jet into its fatal plunge. The Learjet 60, a mid-size business jet built by Bombardier's Learjet line and introduced in the 1990s, can cruise as high as 51,000 feet and is widely used for charter and corporate flights. A preliminary NTSB report is typically issued within weeks, while the full investigation can take one to two years.

Video from the scene: the post below captures the jet's near-vertical plunge and the fireball on impact (video via X, posted by Noteworthy News). If the video does not load, the location map above and the scene photo earlier in this article show the site.

November 2 update: NTSB releases cockpit timeline, first victim identified

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman told a press conference on November 2 that the crew reported moderate turbulence at 35,000 feet, with altitude deviations of about 700 feet; less than 30 seconds later, the crew transmitted a descent message and a Mayday call, saying the aircraft was in an overspeed descent, with the rest unintelligible. Investigators are looking at weather as a factor but could not yet confirm whether the aircraft flew through an active thunderstorm. The only victim identified so far is 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras. Chapman stressed the NTSB will not determine a probable cause while on scene and will not speculate on the cause; the toll of nine dead on board, with no ground casualties reported, is unchanged, and the cause remains under investigation.

November 2 further update: families' joint statement names all passengers and the captain

The victims' families issued a joint statement on November 2 naming all seven passengers on board: Austin tech founder Adam Robinson and his wife Helen Sharp, 40, their two young children Emma and Charlie, two family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and the children's nanny Anita Maria Apellido Cetina. The Palm Beach Post reported that Helen's father, Dudley Sharp, confirmed his daughter, son-in-law and both grandchildren were on the plane. TMZ and CBS reported the captain as 55-year-old Jeff Gregory. Together with 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, identified earlier, all nine people on board have now been named by families or media reports; authorities have not yet formally released the victims' names, and the NTSB has not determined a cause.

November 2 further update: NTSB details mayday and overspeed call in final seconds

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Member Tom Chapman told a press conference on November 2 that the crew, at 35,000 feet, reported moderate turbulence with altitude deviations of about 700 feet; less than 30 seconds later came a transmission announcing the descent followed by a mayday call at about 12:48 p.m. Eastern, reporting "we are in an overspeed condition descending," with the rest unintelligible. Subsequent communications described a rapid descent and gave an altitude callout. Chapman said there was some evidence the aircraft may have started breaking up in mid-air, and investigators hoped to recover the cockpit voice recorder; weather is part of the focus, but officials could not yet confirm whether the aircraft flew through an active thunderstorm. The NTSB said it would not determine a probable cause on scene nor speculate. Families have already named all nine victims, but the official list and preliminary report are still pending.

Sources: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) press conference, November 2, Associated Press, LADbible, the victims' families' joint statement.

November 2 correction: one person on the ground suffered a leg injury; debris field about 0.5 by 0.4 miles

The NTSB investigator-in-charge later corrected the ground toll: one man in a vehicle near the crash site suffered a leg injury (on Sunday, officials had said no one on the ground was hurt). About 20 investigators are on scene, and the debris field measures about half a mile by four-tenths of a mile, scattered across ball fields, businesses and homes; the aircraft was operated by Aurora Aviation, doing business as Upper Jets. The toll of nine dead aboard is unchanged, and no cause has been determined.

Sources: NTSB November 2 briefing (via Reuters, Flightradar24).

November 3 update: left elevator found miles away, confirming parts separated in flight

NTSB member Tom Chapman said at the agency's final on-site briefing on November 3 that investigators had recovered most of the crashed Learjet 60's left elevator, in three pieces scattered between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site. Chapman said that distance could not be explained by the impact itself: the parts must have separated before impact, confirming that important aircraft components came off in flight. He stressed, however, that it is not yet known whether the elevator's separation caused the loss of control or resulted from forces acting on the aircraft during its descent. Crews spent the day collecting and documenting wreckage and working with public works teams to drain water from the impact crater so investigators can search inside it for critical components; a preliminary report is expected in about a month, while a final cause could take more than a year. The cause remains undetermined and the death toll of nine is unchanged.

Sources: NTSB briefing, November 3 (via AVweb, Flying Magazine, BBC).

November 5 update: crew reported icing and turbulence; about 600 residents displaced

Investigators have disclosed more about the weather the crew encountered before the crash: co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras told air traffic controllers minutes before the crash that the aircraft was picking up light, clear icing — which the crew described as manageable — along with moderate turbulence at 35,000 feet, with altitude deviations of about 700 feet, and the crew requested clearance to climb to 37,000 feet. Filgueiras' stepfather told the New York Post she had texted her boyfriend about 10 minutes before the crash: "I've got turbulence, I've got ice." The NTSB stressed that weather is a major focus of the investigation but has not determined whether it caused or contributed to the accident, and has not issued a probable-cause finding. On the ground, about 600 residents near the crash site were displaced while crews worked the scene, with about 40 to 50 people staying overnight at the Greenacres Community Center; the county is seeking state funding to help displaced residents with housing and transport. (Updated November 5, 2026. Sources: NTSB; WFLX; Tampa Bay 28; Associated Press; The Palm Beach Post.)

November 5 update: sheriff formally identifies all nine victims; NTSB says no Mar-a-Lago link

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, November 4, formally identified all nine people killed (as reported by CBS12): pilot Jeffrey Gregory, 55; co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20; Adam Robinson, 45; his wife Helen Sharp, 40; their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; family friends Rachel Reed, 38, and Rowan “Charmi” Fehr Toews, 38; and nanny Ana Maria Ramirez Cetina, 24. The sheriff's office said forensic work had found no additional victims and that recovery of remains was continuing, and that all next of kin had been notified. The formal list's spellings differ slightly from the family statement and supersede it. NTSB board member Tom Chapman, asked about the crash site lying less than 10 miles from former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, said there is no evidence of any connection to Secret Service operations or Mar-a-Lago, calling it “purely coincidence”. The cockpit voice recorder has still not been recovered, and the preliminary report is expected in about a month; the cause remains undetermined. (Updated November 5, 2026. Sources: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office / CBS12; NTSB.)

Separately, a suspected piece of wreckage tore through the roof of a home less than a mile from the crash site and landed in the kitchen; the Sheriff's Office collected it as evidence.

November 6 update: father of co-pilot speaks out; 911 calls released

Allan Filgueiras, the father of 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, spoke at a news conference in Coral Gables, Florida, on Friday (November 6), calling his daughter "gifted" and "my soulmate" and a hero who "fought until the last minute". He said he has listened to her final radio transmissions with air traffic control many times since the crash, and that he wished he could have been beside her on the plane.

ABC reported on November 6 that newly released 911 calls described the chaos after the jet crashed into a Palm Beach County street. The National Transportation Safety Board said the cockpit voice recorder has still not been found; a preliminary report is expected in about a month, while a final determination of the cause could take more than a year. (Sources: Associated Press, NBC, WSVN, ABC.)

November 9 update: cockpit voice recorder recovered; on-scene investigation complete

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed on November 9 that investigators recovered the crashed Learjet 60's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) that day at the aircraft's initial impact site, the crater in Greenacres. The NTSB had previously been unable to confirm whether the aircraft was even fitted with a CVR. The recorder is badly damaged and has been sent to the NTSB laboratory in Washington, where specialists will try to read the final minutes of cockpit audio. The on-scene investigation is now complete, excavation has finished, and residents of the nearby mobile home park may return; South Military Trail remains closed between 10th Avenue North and Cresthaven Boulevard. NTSB member Tom Chapman confirmed there is evidence the aircraft was already breaking up in flight before impact. A preliminary report is expected within about 30 days (early December), while a final cause could take one to two years. The death toll of nine is unchanged. (Sources: ABC News, NTSB, Simple Flying.)