Florida jet may have broken apart in flight before crash that killed nine, investigators say

Parts of a private jet that crashed in Florida and killed all nine people on board may have broken off in the air, investigators believe, as evidence emerges of the aircraft breaking up before it hit the ground. The Learjet 60 was bound for the Bahamas from Austin, Texas when it nosedived into Military Trail, a six-lane road lined with businesses and restaurants in Palm Beach, at around 12:50 local time on Sunday. Dashcam footage captured the plane exploding on impact, and debris was scattered across sports fields, businesses and homes in the area. One man in a car on the ground sustained a leg injury. "We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact," Tom Chapman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told reporters, adding that parts of the aircraft may be found some distance from the impact site. The NTSB said weather conditions would be a major focus of the investigation, with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms reported in the area at the time of the crash. Recovery efforts have been hampered by a huge crater the jet left in the roadway, near the entrance to a mobile home park, which has been partially filled with water by severe storms. "The biggest obstacle that we're going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway," lead investigator Tim Monville said at a news conference on Monday. Officials are also trying to establish whether a cockpit voice recorder was on board and whether it can be recovered. Flight analysis indicates the jet was plummeting hundreds of feet per second before it crashed. In air traffic control recordings, someone in the cockpit reported "moderate turbulence" and said the crew was "managing the ice". The voice then said the plane was "picking up precipitation" and that "we need to climb", before reporting a descent rate of 10,000ft (3,048m) per minute. An emergency was declared, and the crew could be heard yelling that they were "in an overspeed condition descending 20,000ft per minute" moments before saying "we are going to crash into the ground". Seven passengers died on board: tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their two children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two, as well as Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina. In a joint statement, Robinson and Sharp's family described the couple as devoted parents whose children were "the light of their lives", adding that their "warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives". Robinson described himself on LinkedIn as the founder and chief executive of RB2B and Retention.com and the chief executive of Moltsets. He had previously worked at the financial services firm Lehman Brothers and the banking group Barclays. Helen Sharp was an artist, according to media reports. The family statement said Cetina, who cared for Emma and Charlie, was "truly part of the family", while Reed and Fehr were remembered as "full of joy and adventure" who "loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation". The pilot was named in media reports as Jeffery Gregory. A spokesperson for East Coast Jets, where he had worked, said the company was "deeply saddened" to learn he was among those killed. The copilot was reported to be Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, who earned her pilot's licence at 17 while still a senior in high school. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed her death to US media, telling the New York Times: "She loved the freedom. It was completely different seeing the world from the top." In a 2023 interview with a local CBS News affiliate, Filgueiras said: "Some people think that it's weird that I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car."