LAKE WORTH BEACH, November 3, 2026 — The Learjet 60 came down nose first on Military Trail, a major thoroughfare between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday. Video from a passing vehicle shows the jet slamming into the roadway in a flash before a fireball erupts.
All nine people on board died, officials said. The flight had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “It looked like a missile going down.”
The Final Minutes
The cockpit radio traffic, captured by the monitoring site LiveATC.net, traces a rapid slide from routine to desperate. The pilot first reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, with an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius, and moderate turbulence that bounced the plane by up to 700 feet, according to CNN’s account of the recording.
Then the voice changed. “Mayday, mayday,” the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center. “We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!”
Seconds later the rate had doubled. “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot yelled, “We’re going to crash into the ground!”
Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the jet fell 27,000 feet in the span of one minute before the signal cut off. Reuters, citing the LiveATC recording, reported the last words from the cockpit came about 35 seconds after the first mayday: “We’re out of time.” Flightradar24 data showed the vertical descent rate at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute.
A Young Pilot, a Family of Four
The co-pilot was Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, identified by her father. Her sister Giulia Filgueiras said Nathalia learned to fly from their father, who is a pilot.
“Flying was her biggest passion,” Giulia Filgueiras said. “That was her dream to become a pilot since she was very young.”
Her mother told the New York Times the young pilot earned her license at 17. The NTSB said it is unclear whether Filgueiras was at the controls when the jet went down.
On Monday, families of the seven passengers released a statement on Facebook identifying their loved ones, according to Yahoo News: a family of four including two young children, their caretaker, and another couple. The NTSB said the dead included two crew members and seven passengers.
On the Ground
The impact left a deep crater and burning debris just feet from homes and businesses. Anthony Blackmon, who lives nearby, told NBC South Florida he was about 500 feet away when the plane went down.
“Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire,” Blackmon said.
Andrew Mannino told CNN he “heard and felt the boom.” There were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground killed. One man leaving the area sustained a leg injury, officials said. About 600 people were evacuated from the neighborhood and relocated to two shelters in the county because the damage blocked the entrance to a mobile home park, said Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, the first county official at the scene.
The crash site sits miles from the West Palm Beach airport recently renamed for President Donald Trump and his Mar-A-Lago resort.
Ice, Turbulence and a Wider Investigation
NTSB investigators said Monday that weather is a major factor in the probe. Ice was forming on the jet as it hit moderate turbulence, and Miami air traffic control cleared the crew to climb from 35,000 to 37,000 feet to avoid precipitation shortly before the mayday call. Thunderstorms were in the area, though investigators were not sure the plane flew directly through one.
NTSB member Tom Chapman said some evidence indicates parts of the plane, possibly including the horizontal stabilizer, broke off before impact. He asked anyone who finds debris not to move it. A cockpit voice recorder was installed according to records, but the board does not yet know whether it survived.
“We have a lot of work to do on scene — this will be a several-day process,” said NTSB senior investigator Timothy Monville. “The biggest obstacle we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway.” The crater is partly filled with water. At least 20 investigators were on site, the board said.
The FAA lists the Bombardier-made jet’s owner as a Delaware corporation. A preliminary FAA report identified the operator as Aurora Aviation Inc., according to WNG. Bombardier said it is “deeply saddened by this tragic event” and will fully support the investigation.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash a “horrific tragedy” and asked the public to pray for the families of those lost.
How It Compares
The toll makes this the second deadliest U.S. plane crash this year, after 12 people died in June when a skydiving plane went down in Butler, Missouri, according to NTSB records cited by CNN. It is also the worst crash involving a Learjet 60, per Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff from Columbia, South Carolina.
The NTSB is asking anyone with video, audio or information about the crash to email [email protected]. Investigators said they will interview witnesses as the on-scene work continues.
Sources
- Learjet crashes and erupts into flames in Florida, killing all 9 on board | CNN
- Jet nose-dived onto Florida roadway in ‘cataclysmic’ crash killing all 9 on board
- Nine people dead in Learjet crash in south Florida, officials say
- Passengers in deadly Florida Learjet crash identified as family of 4, including 2 young children, their caretaker and another couple
- Nine perish in high-speed Florida plane crash
Photo: Adrian Pingstone (Public domain)
