Learjet Crash Evening Update: About 600 Greenacres-Area Residents Head to Two Shelters as NTSB Investigators Arrive
The Palm Beach County commissioner first on the scene says about 600 people need shelter after Sunday's Learjet crash, which NTSB records make the second deadliest in the U.S. this year. The pilot had reported icing and moderate turbulence minutes before a mayday call, CNN reported, and Military Trail stays closed until further notice.
GREENACRES — About 600 people are in need of shelter after Sunday's Learjet 60 crash near Greenacres, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said, and residents are being sent to two shelters in the county while the site is investigated, CNN reported. Flores, the commissioner for District 3, was the first county official at the scene. County officials said two shelters were on standby and Palm Tran was ready to transport residents of the mobile home community once law enforcement allowed the relocation to begin, according to WPTV reporting compiled this evening. At Sunday's news conference, officials said they had not received reports of anyone on the ground being killed or injured by the crash or its debris.
The crash is the second deadliest in the United States this year, according to National Transportation Safety Board records cited by CNN, following June's skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, which killed 12. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed all nine people aboard the Learjet were killed. Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and moderate turbulence bouncing the plane by up to 700 feet, according to a recording of air traffic control radio calls captured by LiveATC.net and reported by CNN. 'We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,' the pilot radioed the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center. Moments later, after precipitation started to fall and the crew requested a climb, they declared an emergency — 'mayday, mayday' — reporting they were descending 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute in an overspeed condition, CNN reported. The jet descended 27,000 feet over the course of one minute just before flight tracking data cut off, according to ADS-B Exchange. There were scattered storms in the area at the time, and it is unclear whether the storm contributed to the crash, CNN said; no cause has been determined.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who visited the scene, said of the crash: 'It looked like a missile going down.' The plane, tail number N722BD according to an Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesperson, is registered to a limited liability company in Delaware, according to FAA records, and is listed as available for charter online, CNN reported. The road is buckled where the plane slammed into it, creating a crater, video from CNN affiliate WPBF showed. Palm Beach County said Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive will stay closed until further notice, with only emergency vehicles allowed in; drivers are asked to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. NTSB investigators will arrive at the site Sunday and Monday, and a news conference is planned for Monday. This is a developing story; West Palm Beach Watch News will report only what officials confirm.
