US investigators say Learjet was breaking apart before Florida crash that killed nine, including a tech boss and his toddlers
Dashcam footage of the Learjet 60's impact near West Palm Beach, as Transport Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash "a horrific tragedy.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.Anita Maria Cetina (left), and Rachel Reed and Charmi Fehr, three of the nine people killed when the Learjet 60 plunged into a Palm Beach County road at up to 32,000 feet per minute.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.Aerial footage of crash devastation on Military Trail, Palm Beach, Florida, where investigators warn that recovering wreckage from the water-filled impact crater is the biggest obstacle to establishing whether the black box recorder was even on board.The crash left a crater in Military Trail, igniting a utility pole and scattering burning debris feet from passing cars and nearby homes in Greenacres, Palm Beach County.
NTSB investigator Tom Chapman confirmed the Learjet 60 was breaking apart before it plunged nose-first into a Florida highway on Sunday, with debris scattered some distance from the crash site. The 20-year-old co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, reported ice and moderate turbulence at 35,000 feet before the jet descended at 20,000 feet per minute, declaring mayday and warning controllers: 'We're going to crash into the ground.' All nine aboard died instantly when the jet struck the road near Greenacres and erupted into a fireball.
The same Learjet was reprimanded by air traffic control months earlier, in May near Newark, after crew reported 'moderate chop' — controllers told them: 'If you can't maintain altitude, that's not moderate. That's severe turbulence.'
Captain Jeff Gregory, 55, described by friends as someone who 'loved wearing his leather bomber jacket' and had devoted his life to flying, was at the controls alongside Filgueiras.
Tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson had posted in April about always leaving work by 5.30pm to be with family — writing 'my family life gives me energy for my work' — weeks before the fatal Bahamas trip with wife Helen Sharp, 40, and their toddlers Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2.
