A crew member’s frantic mayday call captured the final seconds before a private Learjet 60 slammed into a Florida neighborhood, killing all nine people aboard.
The business jet, traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, nose-dived into Palm Beach County on Sunday, leaving what Governor Ron DeSantis described as a “big crater on the side of the road.” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed all occupants died in what he called a “horrific tragedy.”
According to air traffic control recordings from LiveATC.com, the crew initially reported conditions that seemed difficult but under control. A crew member noted “manageable” ice on the aircraft, “moderate turbulence,” and an outside air temperature of -47C.
The tone shifted dramatically around two hours into the flight. The same crew member radioed increasingly desperate updates as the plane plummeted: “We’re descending 8,000. Mayday, mayday! We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute. Declaring emergency 722 Bravo Delta. We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute…We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The aircraft had been cruising east at 35,000 feet. After requesting permission to climb another 2,000 feet, it entered a catastrophic dive that accelerated far beyond its design limits—first 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000, and finally up to 30,000 feet per minute.
The air traffic controller heard the pilot report, “We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees,” followed by a scream. The pilot then issued a final chilling statement: “Look outside. Holy f–k, we’re out of time.”
Dashcam footage captured the moment of impact, showing the jet narrowly missing residential properties by mere metres before exploding into a fireball. DeSantis characterized the crash as “cataclysmic” and compared it to “a missile going down.”
Anthony Blackmon, who said he stood just 500 feet from the crash site, said Miami: “Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire. I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today.”
Another nearby resident, Roger Forcelle, felt the aircraft pass overhead before impact. “It shook the whole house,” he said. “It went right over us and crashed probably less than half a mile from where I live. Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking.”
Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, confirmed the aircraft was a private plane that had departed from that facility. Local officials evacuated approximately 600 residents from a trailer home community near the crash zone, and Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alemeda Drive to all but emergency vehicles.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have launched investigations into the cause of the tragedy. The victims have not yet been publicly identified.
The road closure in Palm Beach County remains in effect until further notice.