Investigators are zeroing in on the weather after a private jet slammed into a Palm Beach County neighborhood over the weekend, killing all nine people aboard.
Speaking at a briefing, Tom Chapman of the National Transportation Safety Board walked reporters through the final trip of the Learjet 60, which took off from Austin, Texas at 3.37pm Irish time on Sunday bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
Instead of reaching its destination, the aircraft plunged into a residential area in southern Florida. Everyone on board died.
The jet was carrying a pilot, a copilot and seven passengers. Authorities have not released their identities, citing the need for genetic analysis.
US media have identified the copilot as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgeiras, who secured her pilot’s license at 17—before she obtained a driver’s license.
Ms Filgeiras had logged about 1,300 flight hours and started working roughly nine months ago for a charter plane company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Investigators said they have not yet established who was at the controls when the aircraft ran into trouble.
An audio recording posted to the air-traffic website liveatc.net captures a voice from the cockpit reporting “moderate turbulence” and telling controllers the crew was “managing the ice”.
Moments later, the speaker said the plane was “picking up precipitation” and needed “to climb” before issuing a distress call:
“Mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.”
Mr Chapman confirmed those transmissions were made to air traffic controllers.
Maintenance records indicate the aircraft previously had a cockpit recorder, but the NTSB does not know whether it was installed at the time of the crash—or whether it can be recovered—Mr Chapman said.
NTSB investigator Tim Monville said one driver near the crash site was also injured.
NTSB officials said Aurora Aviation operated the aircraft under the name Upper Jets.
Representatives for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Bombardier aircraft entered service in 2004 and underwent renovations in 2018, according to Jettly.
