Nine Killed When Learjet 60 Plunges From 35,000 Feet to Palm Beach County Road

All nine people aboard a Learjet 60 business jet died when the aircraft crashed into a neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday, November 1, 2026. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all nine were killed and called the crash a "horrific tragedy" in a post on X. The Federal Aviation Administration reported the crash occurred at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time.

The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The FAA identified nine individuals on board, with the figure described as preliminary. No names of the dead had been released by officials as of Sunday night, and it was not immediately clear how many were crew members and how many were passengers. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for the Austin airport, stated the aircraft was private and that he could not identify the occupants. He described the event as a definite tragedy.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's officials located the crash site near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in the city of Greenacres. Greenacres is a municipality of approximately 45,000 residents located roughly seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. The crash site sits roughly four miles south of the West Palm Beach airport, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier in the year. CNN reported that President Trump was in West Palm Beach earlier in the day and left the airport on Air Force One a little more than an hour before the jet fell.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and told reporters, "It looked like a missile going down". He noted that the impact created a large crater beside the road and that no ground casualties had been reported at the time of his news conference. DeSantis praised first responders for their rapid arrival. He said the debris field stretched a long distance and said he thought people would recognize the crash as a major tragedy.

Video from nearby vehicles captured the jet descending rapidly, hitting near the roadway, and erupting in flames. Footage showed flames flickering around broken pavement in the crater, which was located feet from homes and inches from passing cars. Thick black smoke obscured the immediate area. Another video from local station WPBF showed the road surface buckling where the aircraft made impact. One person who saw the aftermath said it looked like a meteor hit the ground.

Anthony Blackmon, a resident about 500 feet from the crash, said debris hit his house and the road was on fire. He stated that while he had seen plane crashes on the news, he had never imagined one happening so close to his home. Roger Forcelle said he felt the aircraft pass overhead, shaking his entire house. He estimated the crash occurred less than half a mile from his residence and noted that neighbors emerged from their homes as the ground shook. Andrew Mannino reported hearing and feeling a loud boom followed by an immediate power outage. He smelled smoke and observed a large black cloud rising into the sky. A woman working nearby said the electricity had been off for about two hours.

Approximately 600 residents in a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night because the crash scene blocks the park's entrance. County officials are treating the site as a crime scene while federal investigators conduct their work, though no official has alleged a criminal act. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who represents District 3 and was the first county official at the scene, said residents were being sent to two county shelters. He said the Red Cross was standing by, and county officials said Palm Tran buses were ready to carry residents once law enforcement allowed the evacuation.

County authorities closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive, allowing only emergency vehicles to pass. The county directed drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane for east-west travel and Haverhill Road and Kirk Road for north-south travel. A county commissioner warned that parts of the road could stay closed for an extended time because of the crater, and officials said the timeline also depends on the federal investigation.

According to air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data reported by the AP, the jet was flying east at about 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. The crew requested to climb 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot informed the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that the aircraft had light, clear ice that was manageable, along with moderate turbulence. The pilot reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence that was bouncing the jet by up to 700 feet.

The situation deteriorated rapidly after the request to climb. The pilot radioed: "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." The pilot then reported an overspeed condition while descending at 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot then stated that the aircraft was going to crash into the ground. CBS News reported that the pilot also said the crew was out of time. The AP reported that the descent rate went from 10,000 feet per minute to 20,000 and then as high as 30,000, pushing the jet beyond its design limits. The plane banked sharply to the right before striking the ground at a steep angle.

The FAA stated the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute prior to impact. Flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the data cut off, CNN reported. Scattered storms were in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before it began to descend, CNN reported. The flight was in an area where the FAA had issued a convective SIGMET, a warning of thunderstorms that threaten aircraft. It has not been determined if the weather played a role in the accident. Heavy rain fell across the region Sunday, and the National Weather Service maintained a flood watch through Monday afternoon.

In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert regarding in-flight icing, noting that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult and prevent level flight. Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former Transportation Department inspector general, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. She noted that the steep dive was not a controlled descent, indicating the crew had lost control of the aircraft. She added that the dive could have torn parts from the plane and that a flight recorder may have been destroyed in the explosion. It is unclear if the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, as FAA rules require them only for multi-engine jets flown for hire, though records show the jet was available for charter.

The jet, registered as N722BD, is listed in FAA records as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. The aircraft is listed online as available for charter, but officials have not identified who operated Sunday's flight. Flight Safety Foundation data cited by CNN indicates this is the deadliest crash ever involving a Learjet 60. The previous deadliest Learjet 60 crash occurred in 2008 when four people died in Columbia, South Carolina. NTSB records show this is the second deadliest crash in the United States this year, following a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12 people. The Learjet brand, originally made famous by Bill Lear in the 1960s, was last manufactured by Bombardier, which stopped production in 2021 but continues to support the aircraft in service.