Learjet 60 Plunges 27,000 Feet in About a Minute, Killing All Nine in Palm Beach County Crash

All nine individuals aboard a Learjet 60 private jet died on Sunday, November 1, 2026, after the aircraft crashed into a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the fatalities in a post on the social media platform X, labeling the incident a horrific tragedy. The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the jet went down at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. It had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, with a scheduled destination of North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

The crash site is located near Military Trail, specifically between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North in the city of Greenacres. This urban area has a population of roughly 45,000 and sits about seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. The impact point is approximately four miles south of the West Palm Beach airport, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year. Although officials have not yet released the names of the victims or the breakdown of passengers versus crew, Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for the Austin airport, described the plane as a private aircraft.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are leading the probe and said Sunday they were launching a go-team. The agency expects its personnel to arrive between Sunday and Monday morning, with a media briefing scheduled for Monday in West Palm Beach. No cause for the crash has been established at this time. In his post, Secretary Duffy indicated that the FAA is sending a team to assist the NTSB and asked the public to pray for the families of the deceased.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the crash site and described the event as a cataclysmic plane crash to reporters. He noted that the aircraft appeared to fall like a missile, leaving a large crater beside the road. DeSantis stated that there were no reports of ground casualties or injuries at the time of his news conference. He also pointed out that the debris field was extensive and commended local first responders for their rapid actions.

Witnesses captured video of the jet plummeting from the sky, striking the area near the roadway, and exploding. Footage showed flames flickering around chunks of pavement lining the crater, which was situated very close to homes and moving traffic. Thick black smoke obscured the immediate area. Video from local station WPBF showed the road surface buckling where the aircraft made impact.

Anthony Blackmon, a nearby resident who was about 500 feet from the crash, told NBC 6 that debris hit his house and everything was on fire. He said the road was on fire and that he never thought something like this would happen so close to him. Roger Forcelle said the vibration of the aircraft passing overhead shook his entire home before it crashed less than half a mile away. He said everybody came out of their houses because they could feel the shaking. Andrew Mannino told CNN that he heard a loud boom and felt the power go out immediately. He smelled smoke and observed a large black cloud rising. Another witness described the aftermath as resembling a meteor strike. A nearby worker reported that electricity had been out for about two hours.

County officials stated that approximately 600 residents in a nearby mobile home community had to evacuate on Sunday night. The crash scene blocks the entrance to the mobile home park, and the area is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. Although no official has alleged a crime, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who represents District 3 and was the first county official at the scene, said residents are being directed to two county shelters. Flores emphasized the need to secure shelter for the 600 displaced individuals. The Red Cross is on standby, and Palm Tran buses are ready to transport residents once law enforcement permits the move.

Palm Beach County has closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive to all traffic except emergency vehicles. The county advised drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive for east-west travel, and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. A county commissioner warned that the road could remain closed for an extended period due to the crater and the ongoing federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data reported by the AP show the jet was flying east at approximately 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. They requested to climb 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot informed the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that they were experiencing light, clear ice and moderate turbulence. The pilot also reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that was causing the jet to bounce by as much as 700 feet, according to recordings captured by LiveATC.net.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the pilots reported precipitation and requested a climb. The pilot radioed, "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday," and said the jet was descending 10,000 feet per minute. The pilot then stated the plane was in an overspeed condition and descending at 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot subsequently told controllers, "We're going to crash into the ground," and CBS News reported the pilot also said, "We're out of time."

The descent rate increased from 10,000 feet per minute to 20,000, and eventually to as high as 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond its design limits. The aircraft banked sharply to the right before striking the ground at a steep angle. The FAA reported that the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute just before the crash. Flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the data signal cut off.

Scattered storms were present in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before beginning its descent, according to CNN. The flight path was in an area where the FAA had issued a convective SIGMET, a warning of thunderstorms that threaten aircraft. It has not yet been determined if the weather played a role in the crash. Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, noting that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult and can prevent the airplane from maintaining level flight.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. She noted that the descent was not controlled, indicating the pilots had lost control of the plane. She suggested the steep dive could have torn parts off the plane and that a flight recorder could have been destroyed in the explosion. It is not known whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder. FAA rules require multi-engine jets to carry one only when they are flown for hire; records show the jet was offered for charter flights.

Flight tracking and FAA registry data identify the jet by its registration, N722BD. The FAA registry lists it as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. CNN reported the jet is listed online as available for charter. Officials have not said who operated Sunday's flight. The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data cited by CNN. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina. NTSB records show it is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, after a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. Learjet, the brand that Bill Lear's Lear 23 made famous with wealthy travelers in the 1960s, was most recently built by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier, which stopped making new Learjets in 2021 but still supports the planes in service.