Palm Beach County:Weather conditions are being closely examined in the investigation of a private plane crash in Florida that resulted in the deaths of nine individuals, according to US transportation investigators. The crash involved a Learjet 60 that took off from Austin, Texas, headed for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, and ultimately crashed in a residential area.
According to Sharjah 24, the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Tom Chapman provided details about the crash, noting that the aircraft departed at 1537 GMT on Sunday. The crash claimed the lives of two pilots and seven passengers, whose identities are being confirmed through genetic analysis.
The copilot was identified by US media as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgeiras, who had earned her pilot's license at 17. Filgeiras had accumulated 1,300 flight hours and joined a Fort Lauderdale-based charter company nine months prior. It remains unclear who was piloting the aircraft during the incident.
Audio from the cockpit, available on liveatc.net, captures crew members reporting "moderate turbulence" and issues with ice accumulation just before making a "Mayday" call, indicating a rapid descent of 10,000 feet per minute. The NTSB's Chapman confirmed these communications with air traffic controllers.
The maintenance history of the aircraft revealed a previous installation of a cockpit recorder, though its presence during the crash is uncertain, according to Chapman. Additionally, NTSB investigator Tim Monville reported an injury to a nearby driver at the crash site.
The plane was operated by Aurora Aviation under the name Upper Jets, and the Bombardier-manufactured jet had been in service since 2004, with renovations in 2018. The US Federal Aviation Administration lists the owner as a Delaware-based company, LR60271 LLC. Efforts to contact the operator for comment were unsuccessful.