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MapNTSB Finds Learjet 60 Left Elevator In Three Pieces Near Greenacres Crash Site
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Left elevator parts found in three pieces up to 3.8 miles from the crash site. Investigators say the aircraft likely broke apart before impact.
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21 outlets told this the same way.
Parts found miles away
National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said investigators found the majority of the Learjet 60’s left elevator in three pieces between 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) and 3.8 miles (6.1 kilometers) from the crash site in Greenacres, near West Palm Beach, confirming the plane was breaking apart before impact. Chapman told reporters that without the elevator intact, the pilot would not have been able to pull the Learjet out of its nosedive, and he said investigators were still working out whether losing the left elevator caused the nosedive or whether the part fell off because of forces on the aircraft.
The BBC said NTSB investigators believed parts of the jet may have broken off before the Sunday crash that killed all nine on board, and Chapman said the parts were “quite some distance away” from the site. The crash killed all nine people aboard after the Bombardier Learjet 60 nose-dived into a South Florida neighborhood near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, erupted into a fireball, and created a crater in the pavement near a busy roadway.
Final minutes and victims
Air traffic control audio recordings captured a cockpit voice reporting “moderate turbulence” and that the crew was “managing the ice,” then saying the plane was “picking up precipitation” and “we need to climb,” before the descent accelerated. The BBC reported that the same voice said the plane was descending at a rate of 10,000ft (3,048m) per minute, and it quoted the emergency call: “we are going to crash into the ground”.
The victims included technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children, Emma and Charlie, and the BBC named friends of the family Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr and nanny Anita Maria Cetina as among those who died. The AP identified the family’s nanny as Ana María Ramírez Cetina and said a joint statement from the families described her care as “with tenderness and devotion, and she was truly part of the family.”
Weather, evidence, and next steps
Tom Chapman said investigators were still determining whether losing the left elevator caused the nosedive or whether the elevator separated because “forces on the aircraft caused that to separate,” and he said the part of the plane that controls upward and downward movement may not have been effective at the speed of the descent. The BBC said NTSB planned to investigate the role weather played in the crash, and it reported that officials were struggling to access the wreckage because of the huge crater created by the jet on a road in Palm Beach.
The AP said investigators were scouring the area for wreckage, collecting dashcam video and speaking to witnesses, and it added that after days of heavy rain they planned to access the crater on Wednesday to find critical components. The AP also said about 600 nearby residents remained displaced, but only one person on the ground was reported injured, as investigators continued work in the Greenacres area of Palm Beach County.