Horror in US as Learjet Plunges to Ground, Bursts Into Flames.

A private Learjet 60 travelling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, killing all nine people on board.

The aircraft plunged nose-first into Military Trail, a busy roadway between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, leaving a deep crater and burning debris just feet away from homes and businesses.

Dashcam footage from a passing vehicle captured the aircraft hitting the ground in a flash before bursting into a massive fireball.

“It was a cataclysmic plane crash. It looked like a missile going down,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
No injuries were reported on the ground. However, about 600 residents of a nearby mobile home park were displaced after debris blocked the entrance.

Officials said the crash site is just miles from West Palm Beach Airport, recently renamed after President Donald Trump, and his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Mayday Call
Before the crash, the pilot calmly reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, an outside temperature of -47 degrees Celsius, and moderate turbulence that was causing the plane to bounce by up to 700 feet, according to air traffic control recordings obtained by LiveATC.net.

Moments later, the situation took a dramatic turn.

“Mayday, mayday. We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!” the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute. We’re going to crash into the ground!” the pilot added.

Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange showed that the jet descended 27,000 feet in one minute before its tracking signal disappeared shortly before 1 p.m.
Officials have not confirmed the cause of the crash or identified the victims.

There were scattered storms in the area, and the aircraft had passed through a stronger storm cell minutes before the rapid descent. However, it remains unclear whether weather conditions contributed to the incident.

Investigation
The crash is the second deadliest aviation accident in the United States this year, following the death of 12 people in June when a skydiving plane crashed in Butler, Missouri.

It is also the deadliest accident involving a Learjet 60 since 2008, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Flight Safety Foundation.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the incident as a “horrific tragedy.”

Aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said the dashcam footage would be critical to the investigation.

“That is not a controlled descent. It’s clear, whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane,” she said.
She noted that the steep descent could have caused parts of the aircraft to break off and possibly destroyed the flight data recorder.

Ice accumulation on aircraft wings remains a major risk for private jets, with the NTSB warning in a 2024 safety alert that icing can make it difficult for pilots to manage an aircraft’s flight path and airspeed.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the NTSB are investigating the crash, with a news conference expected on Monday.

The aircraft is registered to a limited liability company (LLC) in Delaware and listed as available for charter.

[Rejigged story from CNN]