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Learjet 60 Crashes into Palm Beach Residential Road, Killing Nine

Investigators say severe turbulence and icing are major leads as FAA and NTSB gather flight data, cockpit recordings and maintenance records.

Overview

  • The Learjet 60 registered N722BD plunged into a Palm Beach County residential roadway on Sunday, November 1, at about 12:50 p.m. local time and all nine people aboard were killed.
  • Air traffic and cockpit audio include a mayday, a female voice reporting moderate turbulence and icing, and a final warning that the plane was descending rapidly before communications cut out.
  • Independent flight‑tracking services recorded extreme descent rates just before loss of signal, with reported vertical speeds that reached tens of thousands of feet per minute.
  • The FAA and NTSB have opened a formal probe that will treat weather conditions as a major element while investigators verify the cockpit voice recorder, review maintenance and operator records, and analyze radar and telemetry.
  • The crash left a large crater and fire damage on a busy road and appears to have injured one motorist; formal victim identification requires genetic tests though relatives and media have named copilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras and the aircraft was offered for charter and owned by a Delaware LLC.