GREENACRES, Florida (The Thursday Times) — All nine people on board a Learjet 60 were killed when it crashed in a residential area of Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, after a plunge of more than 26,000 feet in just over a minute.
The jet came down at about 12:50pm local time near Military Trail in the Greenacres area, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It had left Austin, Texas, and was bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The FAA said the 22-year-old aircraft fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in little more than a minute, a descent of roughly 350 feet per second.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and called the crash “cataclysmic”, saying the plane appeared to come down “like a missile” and left a large crater along Military Trail. Officials said that at the time of his news conference they had no reports of anyone on the ground being killed or injured, though the debris spread over a wide area.
About 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community are expected to be moved out while investigators work at the site, county officials said, with two shelters on standby. Part of Military Trail will stay closed until further notice, and a county commissioner warned the closure could be a long one.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with support from the FAA. No cause has been given, and the victims have not been named. “Please join me in praying for the families and loved ones of those we lost,” Duffy said.
