Learjet Kills Nine in Palm Beach County Plunge

Nine people lost their lives on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when a Learjet 60 business jet crashed into a neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the deaths in a post on X, calling the event a horrific tragedy. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that the jet struck the ground at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The aircraft had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

The crash site is located near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North in Greenacres. This area is roughly seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach and four miles south of the local airport, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year. The FAA said nine people were on board, but officials have not released their names or said how many were passengers and how many were crew.

Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, described the jet as a private aircraft. He told the Associated Press that he could not say who was on the flight. Reynolds characterized the incident as a definite tragedy. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation and launched a go-team on Sunday. Investigators were expected to arrive on Sunday and the following morning, with a media briefing planned for Monday in West Palm Beach. No cause for the crash has been determined yet.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the scene and described the crash as cataclysmic. He told reporters that it looked like a missile going down and left a large crater on the side of the road. DeSantis said there were no reports of people on the ground being killed or injured at the time of his news conference. He noted that the debris field stretched over a long distance and praised local first responders for their rapid reaction.

Video recorded by people in nearby cars captured the jet plunging from the sky and striking near the roadway. The impact caused an explosion, with flames flickering around chunks of pavement lining the crater. The crater was located feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles, and thick black smoke covered the site. Footage from WPBF showed the road buckling where the jet made contact.

Local residents described the immediate impact of the crash. Anthony Blackmon, who said he was about 500 feet from the crash, said debris hit his house and everything was on fire. He noted that the road was also ablaze. Roger Forcelle reported feeling the aircraft pass over his home, shaking the entire structure. He estimated the crash occurred less than half a mile from his residence. Andrew Mannino said he heard and felt the boom, and the power immediately went out. He smelled smoke and saw a large black cloud rise into the air.

About 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes Sunday night. County officials stated that the crash scene blocks the entrance to the mobile home park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work. No official has alleged that a crime occurred. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who was the first county official on the scene, said residents were being sent to two county shelters. He confirmed that the Red Cross was standing by and that Palm Tran buses were ready to transport residents once law enforcement permitted the evacuation.

Palm Beach County closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive until further notice. The road remained open only to emergency vehicles. County officials directed drivers to use 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive 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 period due to the crater, with the timeline depending on the federal investigation.

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

After reporting precipitation and requesting a climb, the situation deteriorated rapidly. The pilot radioed a mayday and said they were descending 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute. The pilot stated they were in an overspeed condition and that they were going to crash into the ground. CBS News reported the pilot also said they were out of time. The descent rate peaked at 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the jet beyond its design limits. The plane banked sharply to the right before hitting the ground at a steep angle.

The FAA said the jet fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute just before the crash. Flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before the data cut off. Scattered storms were in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before it began to descend. The FAA had issued a convective SIGMET warning of thunderstorms that threaten aircraft in that area. Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect through Monday afternoon.

In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, warning that ice can make managing the airplane's flightpath and airspeed more difficult. Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video would be important to investigators. She noted that the descent was not controlled and that the steep dive could have torn parts off the plane. It is not known whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, as FAA rules require it only for multi-engine jets flown for hire. Records show the jet was offered for charter flights.

Flight tracking and FAA registry data identify the jet as N722BD, a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. The crash is the deadliest ever involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. In 2008, four people were killed when a Learjet 60 crashed on takeoff 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. Bombardier stopped making new Learjets in 2021 but still supports the planes in service.