US investigators find pieces of the Learjet's tail miles from the Florida crash site, suggesting it broke apart before impact
The tail section of Learjet 60 N722BD, whose co-pilot was heard screaming the jet was descending at 20,000 feet per minute in an overspeed condition before impact.Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras (left), the co-pilot, pictured with pilot Jeff Gregory, whose final recorded words were the Lord's Prayer as the Learjet plunged towards the ground.Dashcam footage of the Learjet 60's impact near West Palm Beach, as Transport Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash "a horrific tragedy.Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their children Emma and Charlie, who were among the nine killed; the crew had reported light icing and requested clearance to climb to 37,000 feet before issuing a mayday call less than 30 seconds later.
The Learjet's left elevator — the tail component that controls the nose's pitch — was recovered in three pieces spread between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the Palm Beach crash site, strongly suggesting the aircraft was breaking apart mid-air before it ploughed into the ground at near-supersonic speed on Sunday. NTSB member Tom Chapman said investigators are unsure whether losing the part caused the nosedive or whether the violent descent tore it loose. Cockpit voice recorder remains missing and could take more than a year to establish the full cause.
A chunk of debris also punched through the roof of Ana Escobar's home less than a mile away, landing in her kitchen; police have seized it as evidence.
Co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, stayed calm relaying data to controllers 'up until the last minute'; her stepfather Thiago Corteleti said: 'Our daughter is down there, under the ground with that airplane.'
An aviation expert says the pilots may have made a fatal error by flying into the storm rather than around it, possibly driven by pressure to reach their Bahamas destination.
