Learjet began falling apart before Florida crash, feds say

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday confirmed that key components fell off of a business jet before it crashed Sunday, killing all nine people aboard. The board’s investigators found most of the Learjet 60’s left elevator in three pieces scattered one to four miles from the crash site in Palm Beach County, Fla., they said. Elevators are movable components on an aircraft’s tail that control its angle of pitch, affecting flight path and altitude. Investigators reiterated that locals should leave any suspected wreckage in place and report it to authorities.

The plane was en route to the Bahamas from Austin, Texas when it crashed. Its flight crew reported “manageable” levels of ice and turbulence just minutes before the crash. The aircraft plunged to the ground at a high speed soon afterward, but the exact cause of the crash has yet to be determined. Investigators said that both the weather and the loss of key parts could have contributed to the disaster. However, it was also possible that the elevator fell off because the plane was already falling faster than its intended flight speed, they added. Investigators were also checking the plane’s maintenance schedule and the pilots’ certifications, they said.

The board said its on-site team should be able to access the deep crater at the impact site starting tomorrow. Water filling the crater, as well as an unstable utility pole nearby, hindered previous efforts to find out what happened, it said. Investigators believed they would find more parts of the Learjet in the crater, possibly including its black box. A video of the crater that circulated online soon after the crash did not show any large pieces visible. All the fragments found so far were very small, the board said Tuesday.

What do we know about the victims? A family said that Texas tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their children Emma and Charlie were among those who perished. Emma was 4 years old, and Charlie was 2. Their friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, along with their nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, also died in the crash.

The plane’s captain was Jeff Gregory, age 55. He was known as a devout Christian, according to the Associated Press. The co-pilot was previously identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras.