Learjet Falls 26,500 Feet in One Minute, Killing Nine in Palm Beach County

The jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute, the FAA said, just before it struck the ground in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, November 1, 2026. All nine people aboard the Learjet 60 were killed in the crash, which U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described as a horrific tragedy. The aircraft was traveling from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas when it went down near a busy road.

Air traffic control recordings show the pilots reported light, clear ice and moderate turbulence minutes before the plunge. The pilot stated the outside air temperature was minus 47 degrees Celsius and that the jet was bouncing by as much as 700 feet. The pilots reported turbulence, icing and precipitation and asked to climb 2,000 feet. The flight was operating in an area where the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a convective SIGMET, a warning for thunderstorms that threaten aircraft.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the climb request. The pilot radioed, "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." The descent rate increased to 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute, and as high as 30,000 feet per minute, the AP reported. The pilot said, "We're going to crash into the ground." CBS News reported the pilot also said, "We're out of time." The jet banked sharply to the right before hitting the ground at a steep angle, the AP reported.

The crash site is located near Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North in Greenacres, a city of about 45,000 people. The jet exploded near the roadway, leaving a large crater. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the scene and said the debris field stretched a long distance. He noted that the jet left a big crater on the side of the road and that there were no initial reports of people on the ground being killed or injured.

Residents nearby described the impact. Anthony Blackmon, who said he was about 500 feet from the crash, said debris hit his house and the road was on fire. Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass over his home and that the house shook. Andrew Mannino heard a boom and said the power immediately went out and was still out. A woman working nearby said the electricity had been out for about two hours, and another witness said the scene looked like a meteor hit the ground.

About 600 people in a nearby mobile home community were forced to leave their homes Sunday night. County officials said the crash scene blocks the entrance to the park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. No official has alleged that a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said residents were being sent to two county shelters. The Red Cross was standing by, and Palm Tran buses were ready to transport residents once law enforcement allowed the evacuation.

Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive until further notice. The road remained open only to emergency vehicles. The county advised drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. A county commissioner warned that parts of the road could stay closed for an extended time because of the crater, and officials said the timeline also depends on the federal investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation and said Sunday it was launching a go-team. Investigators were expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning. The NTSB planned a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday. No cause has been determined yet. The FAA is sending a team to the scene to support the NTSB. Officials had not released the names of the nine people killed or specified how many were passengers and how many were crew.

Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, told the Associated Press the jet was a private aircraft. He could not say who was on the flight. "This is definitely a tragedy," he said. Flight tracking and FAA registry data identify the jet by its registration, N722BD. The FAA registry lists it as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. CNN reported the jet is listed online as available for charter flights. Officials have not said who operated Sunday's flight.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. She stated that the descent was not a controlled descent, indicating the pilots had lost control of the plane. She said the steep dive could have torn parts off the plane and that a flight recorder could have been destroyed in the explosion. It is not known whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder. FAA rules require multi-engine jets to carry one only when they are flown for hire; records show the jet was offered for charter flights.

The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. NTSB records show it is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, after a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. Learjet, the brand that Bill Lear's Lear 23 made famous with wealthy travelers in the 1960s, was most recently built by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier, which stopped making new Learjets in 2021 but still supports the planes in service.

CNN reported that President Donald Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier Sunday and left the airport on Air Force One a little more than an hour before the crash. The airport, renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year, is about four miles north of the crash site. Heavy rain fell across the region Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, warning that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult and can prevent the airplane from maintaining level flight.