Last updated: 8:31 PM ET, Nov 2, 2026

A business jet carrying nine people crashed into a busy stretch of Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon, killing everyone on board, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, according to the Associated Press.

The Learjet 60 went down at about 12:51 p.m. EST on Nov. 1 near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in an unincorporated area near Greenacres and Palm Springs, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and local reports. The jet crashed and erupted in a fireball, WPBF reported, and left a large crater near the roadway, according to NBC 6 South Florida.

The flight

The NTSB said the jet was operated by Aurora Aviation, doing business as Upper Jets. It left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 10:37 a.m. EST Sunday, bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, with two flight crew members and seven passengers aboard, according to WFLX, which covered the agency’s Monday briefing. The cause of the crash is under investigation by the NTSB, with FAA support, and investigators have not attributed it to the operator, the crew or anyone else.

The aircraft’s tail number was reported by Radar Contact as N722BD; the NTSB has not confirmed the aircraft’s registration.

The final minutes

At a news conference in West Palm Beach on Monday afternoon, NTSB Board Member Tom Chapman laid out a preliminary timeline built from the crew’s communications with air traffic control.

At about 12:47 p.m. EST, while cruising at 35,000 feet, the crew reported “light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” along with altitude deviations of about 700 feet, Chapman said, according to UPI and WFLX. The crew reported an outside air temperature of roughly minus 52 to minus 53 degrees Fahrenheit.

The crew then reported picking up precipitation and asked to climb to 37,000 feet. Controllers approved the request.

“Less than 30 seconds later, a transmission from the airplane announced the descent, followed by a mayday call,” Chapman said, according to WFLX. At about 12:48 p.m. EST, the crew reported the jet was in an overspeed condition and descending, and UPI reported that one pilot radioed the plane was “descending 20,000 feet per minute.” Chapman said later transmissions became “unintelligible,” according to the BBC.

“Sadly, all aboard were lost,” he said, according to the BBC.

What investigators have said so far

Chapman said there is “some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact,” according to Radar Contact, but investigators have not yet identified which parts may have separated. He called the weather “a major focus of the investigation” and said investigators still need to determine conditions at the plane’s cruising altitude. It is too early to say whether the jet flew through a thunderstorm, he said.

The NTSB will not determine a probable cause on scene “nor will we speculate about the cause,” Chapman said, according to UPI. “Our mission is to understand not just what happened but why it happened,” he added, describing the standard scope of an NTSB review: “who knew what and when, what actions were taken and whether those actions were appropriate.” He did not suggest any finding of fault.

About 20 NTSB investigators are on scene and expect to stay several days, according to the agency’s briefing. Investigator in charge Timothy Monville said the debris field covers roughly half a mile by four-tenths of a mile. Monville called recovering the wreckage from the impact crater a “daunting challenge,” according to the BBC, and WFLX reported that water in the crater after heavy rain is complicating access.

Maintenance records show a cockpit voice recorder was installed on the jet, Chapman said, but whether it was aboard and can be recovered is not yet known, according to Radar Contact. The FAA is supporting the NTSB-led investigation.

On the ground

One person on the ground was hurt. Monville said a man in a vehicle leaving the area suffered a leg injury, according to the BBC and Radar Contact. No deaths on the ground have been reported.

Video of the crash recorded by drivers and nearby residents spread quickly online Sunday. “It looked like a missile going down,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday at a news conference near the crash site, according to WPBF and NBC 6 South Florida. “It left a big crater on the side of the road.”

The victims

The NTSB has not released the names of those aboard, and the BBC reported that local authorities are expected to identify the victims after DNA is collected from the site. According to a joint statement from the families, reported by the Miami Herald and the BBC, those killed included Texas tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.

The statement described Robinson and Sharp as “devoted parents” and said Emma and Charlie “were the light of their lives.” It said Cetina “was truly part of the family” and described Reed and Fehr as “full of joy and adventure.” The families thanked first responders, investigators and the Palm Beach County community, offered condolences to the families of the pilots, “who are grieving alongside us,” and asked for privacy, the Herald reported.

The two crew members also died. The co-pilot was Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, whose family identified her, CBS Miami reported; her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed her death to U.S. media, including the New York Times, according to the BBC and UPI. She earned her pilot’s license at 17, while a high school senior in Boca Raton, according to the BBC and CBS Miami. Pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, was identified by CBS Miami, citing a source and the flight manifest, and by the BBC, citing his former employer East Coast Jets; officials have not released the crew’s names.

What’s still unknown

Investigators have not said what caused the jet to descend, which parts may have separated in flight, or whether the cockpit voice recorder will be recovered. The NTSB has said the investigation will take time. For general aviation accidents, the NTSB says its preliminary report is “typically available within two weeks after the accident,” and the final report with a probable cause comes “in approximately 18 to 24 months.”

The NTSB asked anyone with photos, video or information to email witness@ntsb.gov, and asked anyone who finds debris to leave it in place and contact the agency or local authorities.

Sources

  1. NTSB investigation page, ERA27MA026: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/ERA27MA026.aspx

  2. WFLX, “NTSB: Learjet 60 crew reported icing, turbulence shortly before deadly Palm Beach County crash”: https://www.wflx.com/2026/11/02/ntsb-learjet-60-crew-reported-icing-turbulence-shortly-before-deadly-palm-beach-county-crash/

  3. UPI, NTSB briefing coverage and families’ statement: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/11/02/ntsb-briefing-florida-plane-crash/3881793648234/

  4. BBC live coverage: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c83vq0w5ryp6t

  5. BBC, “Who are the victims of the deadly Florida jet crash?”: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm9wz01dx8xro

  6. BBC, “Plane may have broken apart ahead of deadly Florida jet crash”: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm369yy7lw73o

  7. Miami Herald, victims: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article317891609.html

  8. Miami Herald, crew/NTSB briefing: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article317884075.html

  9. CBS Miami, victims and full family statement: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/jet-crash-victims-palm-beach-county-florida/

  10. Radar Contact, NTSB briefing explainer: https://radarcontactmag.com/articles/florida-learjet-crash-palm-beach-what-we-know

  11. WPBF, DeSantis news conference: https://www.wpbf.com/article/aircraft-incident-military-trail-and-10th-avenue-north-florida-palm-beach-county/74305687

  12. NBC 6 South Florida, DeSantis: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/looked-like-a-missile-going-down-desantis-describes-cataclysmic-plane-crash-in-palm-beach/3881653/

  13. NTSB, aviation investigation process: https://www.ntsb.gov/tda/family/Pages/tda-aviation.aspx