Learjet 60 Plummets 27,000 Feet in Florida Crash
The Learjet 60 carrying nine people plunged 27,000 feet in just one minute on November 1, 2026, ending a flight from Texas to the Bahamas in a fatal crash in Greenacres, Florida. National Transportation Safety Board investigators confirmed that part of the aircraft’s tail was found nearly two kilometers from the impact crater, indicating the plane was breaking apart before it hit the ground.
The aircraft departed Austin, Texas, on a route scheduled to cross South Florida. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the plane crashed just before 1 p.m. on Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. The impact created a crater in the roadway and scattered debris over a wide residential area near a mobile-home park.
Co-pilot reports severe ice and turbulence before emergency
Minutes before the descent, 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras reported to the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that light, clear ice was accumulating on the aircraft alongside moderate turbulence, according to radio recordings captured by LiveATC.net. She noted an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius and stated the plane was bouncing by up to 700 feet. Filgueiras also texted her boyfriend at 12:40 p.m. to report turbulence and ice, her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, told the New York Post.
Plane crash updates | Husband, wife, children among those killedhttps://t.co/bNV4k1QCiV
As conditions deteriorated, Filgueiras declared an emergency. In the final roughly 90 seconds of the flight, audio recordings capture her shifting from calm communication to frantic updates. “We’re descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000ft per minute,” she says, before screaming, “We’re going to crash into the ground!” Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the descent rate reached 27,000 feet in one minute before tracking was cut off. A man’s voice can be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the background of the final transmissions.
Investigators recover broken tail sections near impact site
NTSB member Tom Chapman announced during a Wednesday news conference that investigators recovered part of the jet’s tail nearly two kilometers from the impact crater. Chapman stated that the tail’s elevator was broken into three parts. Without an intact elevator, a pilot cannot pull a Learjet out of a nose dive, though Chapman noted the control surface likely would have been ineffective even if attached at those speeds.
NTSB to hold its second media briefing today on its investigation into Sunday's crash of a Learjet 60 airplane in Palm Beach County, Florida. NTSB Member Tom Chapman will brief the media at 3:00 p.m. EST at the Emergency Operations Center, 20 S. Military Trail, West Palm Beach,…
Investigators are examining weather as a primary factor in the disaster. Senior air safety investigator Tim Monville noted that murky water filling the impact crater and recurring rain in the area have complicated wreckage recovery efforts. While a preliminary report detailing the sequence of events is expected in about a month, determining the exact cause of the crash will likely take more than a year.
Crash kills nine people including family and flight crew
The crash claimed the lives of all nine people on board. The passengers included technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children, Charlie, 2, and Emma, 4, according to relatives. Friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, as well as the family nanny Anita Maria Cetina, were also killed.
The flight crew consisted of 55-year-old pilot Jeff Gregory of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras of Palm Beach County, CBS News reported. Gregory held airline transport pilot and flight instructor certificates. Thomas Noetzel, director of operations at Upper Jets, organized an online fundraiser to support Gregory’s wife and children. While the crash forced the displacement of about 600 residents from a nearby mobile-home park, only one injury was reported on the ground.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Florida Crash
What aircraft was involved in the Greenacres crash?
The aircraft was a Learjet 60 carrying a total of nine people, including two crew members and seven passengers.
I can not even imagine what the families of those on board must be feeling today. Such a terrible tragedy. https://t.co/2CpS1j2H71
Where did the flight originate and where was it headed?
The private jet took off from Austin, Texas, on Sunday morning and was en route to the Bahamas when it encountered severe weather over South Florida.
How many ground injuries were reported?
Only one injury was reported on the ground, though the impact displaced approximately 600 residents living near the crash site in Greenacres, Florida.
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