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Crime & Safety

Investigators find Learjet tail part miles from Florida crash that killed nine

NTSB member Tom Chapman says the part separated before impact, but investigators do not yet know whether its loss caused the nosedive.

6 news outlets reported this
Liberal1 outletCo-pilot's final radio calls and tail breaking apartCenter2 outletsElevator found miles away, cause still undeterminedConservative3 outletsParts separated before impact, no Mar-a-Lago link
Published 4 min readMoney and daily life
Overview

A Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas crashed in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, Nov. 1, killing all nine people aboard. At a briefing on Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said investigators found most of the jet's left elevator in three pieces. The elevator is a tail control surface that moves the nose up and down.

The pieces lay between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the crash site. Chapman said the distance shows parts separated before impact. Investigators are still working out whether losing the elevator caused the nosedive or whether forces on the plane tore it off.

He said the part may not have been effective at the speed the jet was travelling. Air traffic recordings capture the crew reporting turbulence and ice at about 35,000 feet, then a descent of 10,000 feet per minute and an emergency call. Weather remains a key focus and the cause has not been determined.

According to Fox News, Chapman said there was no evidence of a link to Mar-a-Lago, calling it "Purely coincidence." Among the dead are Adam Robinson, a tech entrepreneur, and his wife Helen Sharp, with their two children. Friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr and the family's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, also died.

Key figures
  • all nine people aboard killed — BBC News
  • 1.3 to 3.8 miles distance of the elevator pieces from the crash site, per Chapman — New York Post
  • 20,000ft per minute descent rate the crew reported in its final radio calls — BBC News
  • Roughly 600 residents evacuated near the crash site, according to The Palm Beach Post — Fox News
  • about a month time until the NTSB's preliminary report — The Guardian (US)

Three sides of the story

Liberal1 outlet

Co-pilot's final radio calls and tail breaking apart

The Guardian leads with tail pieces found more than a mile from the impact point. NTSB member Tom Chapman said the find shows the jet was breaking up in the air. The paper reports he said the plane could not have pulled out of its dive without the tail intact, and that he was unsure a complete tail would have helped given how fast the jet was falling.

It then retraces the flight through co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras's radio calls. The jet, the paper says, appears to have entered a thunderstorm at 35,000ft, with icing and turbulence following. Her words include "we are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000ft per minute."

Relatives identified the dead, among them tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and the couple's two young children. The Guardian carries East Coast Jets' statement on pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, which calls the crash a "heart breaking tragedy." It closes on the timeline: a preliminary report in about a month, and likely more than a year to find the exact cause.

Center2 outlets

Elevator found miles away, cause still undetermined

BBC News headlines that crucial plane parts were found three miles from the crash site, then gives Chapman's range of 1.3 to 3.8 miles. It says investigators found "the majority" of the left elevator in three pieces and concluded it fell off before impact because it lay "quite some distance away." Chapman says officials are still working out whether its loss caused the nosedive or whether "forces on the aircraft caused that to separate."

BBC adds air traffic audio of the crew reporting "moderate turbulence" and "managing the ice," then the emergency call. It says officials struggled to reach the wreckage because of the huge crater, and it names the seven passengers from a joint statement, including children Emma, four, and Charlie, two. The Journal's news report is headlined "Learjet Wreckage Found Miles Away From Crash Site, NTSB Says."

It reports that investigators say pieces of the elevator, the part that controls the jet's pitch, came off before impact.

Conservative3 outlets

Parts separated before impact, no Mar-a-Lago link

Fox News headlines Chapman's answer when asked whether the crash, less than 10 miles from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, was tied to Secret Service operations: "There is no evidence of connection. Purely coincidence." Its report then covers the elevator found between 1.3 and 3.8 miles away and Chapman's view that it would not have let the jet recover even if attached.

It lists next steps, including draining the crater, where small pieces are expected, and using dashcam footage. It adds the local toll: roughly 600 residents evacuated, per The Palm Beach Post, and Military Trail still closed. The New York Post headlines "Important pieces" of the jet separating before the crash.

It quotes Chapman on whether the loss of the piece caused the loss of control or resulted from forces on the plane: "we don't know yet." The Epoch Times carries an item titled "NTSB Holds Briefing on Jet Crash in Palm Beach County, Florida," with a video still of the crash.

Money and daily life

For people near the site, Fox News reports Military Trail was shut in both directions from 10th Avenue North to Purdy Lane, and officials gave no timeline for reopening it or for letting displaced residents return home. Roughly 600 residents were evacuated, according to The Palm Beach Post, and Palm Beach County officials were seeking state funding for housing and transportation.

All sources: 6 articles from 6 outlets

Liberal (1)

Center (2)

Conservative (3)

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