Florida authorities have released frantic 911 recordings capturing the immediate aftermath of a Learjet 60 crash that killed all nine people on board in Greenacres last Sunday.
The jet, operated by Aurora Aviation doing business as Upper Jets, departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at approximately 10:37 a.m. Bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said at a Monday briefing. The aircraft came down at around 12:50 p.m. ET, about 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach, leaving a crater in the roadway and thick black smoke billowing over the site as rain pounded the area.
NBC6 obtained the emergency calls on Friday. “I think an airplane, a rocket, something fell from the sky,” one caller told the dispatcher. The caller continued, “We felt our house shake, and then we heard an explosion when we ran outside.” They did not see what came down, they said, but sparks flew and there was “a bunch of smoke.”
Another caller placed the blast near residences. “It is a really big explosion,” they told the dispatcher. “It’s around the trailer homes that are built here.”
Those killed included pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, alongside technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, the couple’s friends and the children’s nanny. About 600 residents of nearby mobile homes were displaced, and a shelter was established for people from almost 80 homes.
There were two crew members and seven passengers on board. At about 12:47 p.m., while flying at 35,000 feet, the crew reported light clear ice and moderate turbulence, with altitude deviations of about 700 feet. They gave the outside temperature as minus 47 degrees Celsius (minus 53 degrees Fahrenheit).
The crew then reported precipitation and requested clearance to climb to 37,000 feet, which air traffic control approved. Less than 30 seconds later, the plane indicated it was descending, followed by a mayday call. Filgueiras radioed: “Declare an emergency 722-Bravo-Delta. We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute!”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the crash “cataclysmic,” saying the aircraft looked like a missile coming down. Investigators are searching a debris field measuring about half a mile by four-tenths of a mile, which encompasses ball fields, businesses and homes, investigator Timothy Monville said.
“We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact,” Chapman said. It has not yet been determined whether parts such as the tail separated beforehand.
Officials do not yet know whether a cockpit voice recorder remained on the aircraft, although maintenance records show one was installed. Water in the crater has also complicated access to the wreckage. One person on the ground, a man in a vehicle leaving the area, suffered a leg injury.
The NTSB has not determined a cause, and Chapman said investigators would not speculate at this early stage. The agency plans to publish a preliminary report describing the facts, though not analysis or cause, about 30 days after the crash.