Investigators Examine Weather and Icing Factors in Fatal Florida Learjet Crash

National Transportation Safety Board investigators stated that severe weather and icing were major factors in the crash of a Learjet 60 that killed all nine people on board in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday.

The private jet, traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, encountered an intensifying thunderstorm cell at 35,000 feet, where the flight crew reported icing and moderate turbulence before requesting to climb to 37,000 feet. Less than thirty seconds after air traffic control approved the request, the crew transmitted a mayday call reporting a rapidly escalating overspeed condition and a steep descent rate exceeding design limits.

NTSB board member Tom Chapman announced that preliminary indicators suggest the aircraft may have begun breaking apart midair before impacting a residential area near a roadway, leaving a crater and erupting into a fireball. The victims included pilot Jeff Gregory, co-pilot Filgueiras, Texas technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, Emma and Charlie, their nanny Anita Maria Cetina, and two family friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.