Jet's 27,000 Foot Plunge Leaves Homes Shaking and Road Buckled in Palm Beach Crash

All nine people aboard a Learjet 60 business jet died Sunday, November 1, 2026, when the aircraft crashed into a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed. The jet was flying from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it struck the ground near a busy road and exploded, Duffy said. The Federal Aviation Administration placed the time of impact at approximately 12:50 p.m. Eastern time. The FAA said nine people were on board and called its information preliminary. In a post on X, Secretary Duffy described the event as a "horrific tragedy" and stated that the FAA is dispatching a team to support the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation. He asked the public to pray for the families of the victims.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the inquiry and announced on Sunday that it is sending a go-team to the scene. Investigators are expected to arrive Sunday and Monday morning, with a media briefing planned for Monday in West Palm Beach. No cause for the crash has been determined yet. Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, identified the aircraft as a private jet and declined to name the individuals on board. "This is definitely a tragedy," Reynolds said. Officials have not yet released the names of the nine victims or broken down the number of passengers versus crew members.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office officials located the crash site near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in the city of Greenacres. Greenacres has a population of roughly 45,000 and sits about seven miles southwest of West Palm Beach. The crash occurred approximately four miles south of the local airport, which was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport earlier this year. President Trump was in West Palm Beach on Sunday and departed on Air Force One more than an hour before the jet crashed. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the site and told reporters the crash was "cataclysmic," comparing the jet’s descent to a missile going down, adding that it left a big crater on the side of the road. DeSantis said there were no reports of ground fatalities or injuries at the time of his news conference and praised local first responders for their rapid response.

Witnesses in nearby vehicles recorded video of the jet falling from the sky, striking near the roadway, and exploding. The impact created a crater lined with chunks of pavement, with flames flickering around them, situated only feet from homes and inches from passing traffic. Thick black smoke enveloped the scene. Footage from WPBF showed the road surface buckled where the jet made contact. Anthony Blackmon, a resident living about 500 feet from the crash, described the scene as a fire with debris hitting his house. "Everything was on fire. The road was on fire," Blackmon said 6. He added that while he had seen plane crashes on the news, he never imagined one would happen so close to where he lived. Another resident, Roger Forcelle, said the aircraft shook his entire house as it passed overhead before crashing less than half a mile away. "Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking," Forcelle said. Andrew Mannino, who said he heard and felt a boom, noted that the power went out immediately and remained off. He smelled smoke and saw a large black cloud rise. One witness described the aftermath as looking like a meteor had hit the ground, while a nearby worker reported that electricity had been out for about two hours.

About 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community had to leave their homes on Sunday night, county officials said. The crash scene blocks the entrance to the park and is being treated as a crime scene while federal investigators work, although no official has alleged a crime took place. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who represents District 3 and was the first county official on the scene, stated that residents were being moved to two county shelters. "So we have about 600 people that we have to make sure that they have shelter tonight," Flores said. He said the Red Cross was standing by, and county officials said Palm Tran buses were ready to carry residents once law enforcement allowed the evacuation.

Military Trail remains closed between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive, open only to emergency vehicles. The county 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 the road closure could last an extended period due to the crater and the ongoing federal investigation.

Air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data show the jet was flying east at about 35,000 feet when the pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation. They requested a climb of 2,000 feet. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center: "We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence." The pilot reported an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius and turbulence causing the jet to bounce by up to 700 feet, according to recordings captured by LiveATC.net. The situation deteriorated rapidly after the request to climb. "We're descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute," the pilot radioed. The pilot then announced an overspeed condition with a descent rate of 20,000 feet per minute. "We're going to crash into the ground," the pilot said. CBS News reported the pilot also stated, "We're out of time."

The descent rate increased from 10,000 to 20,000 and then to 30,000 feet per minute, pushing the aircraft beyond its design limits. The jet banked sharply to the right before hitting the ground at a steep angle. The FAA said the plane fell from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in one minute. Flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showed a drop of 27,000 feet in about a minute before data ceased, CNN reported. Scattered storms were present in the area, and the jet passed through a stronger storm cell shortly before the descent. The FAA had issued a convective SIGMET warning of thunderstorms that threaten aircraft. Whether the weather played a role has not been determined. Heavy rain fell across the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service maintained a flood watch through Monday afternoon. In January 2024, the NTSB issued a safety alert on in-flight icing, noting that ice can make managing flightpath and airspeed difficult and prevent level flight.

Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, said dashcam video will be important to investigators. "That is not a controlled descent," she said. "So at that point, it's clear whatever happened, they had lost control of the plane." She noted that the steep dive could have torn parts off the aircraft and that a flight recorder may have been destroyed in the explosion. It is unknown whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder, as FAA rules require them 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 aircraft by registration N722BD. The FAA lists it as a Learjet 60 owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. CNN reported the jet is listed online as available for charter. Officials have not identified who operated the flight on Sunday. According to Flight Safety Foundation data, this is the deadliest crash ever involving a Learjet 60. In 2008, four people died 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. Learjet, a brand made famous by Bill Lear’s Lear 23 in the 1960s, was most recently built by Bombardier, which stopped producing new Learjets in 2021 but continues to support existing aircraft.