NTSB Finds Learjet Tail Piece Miles From Palm Beach Crash Site, Sees No Mar-a-Lago Link, Cause Undetermined

A Learjet 60 bound for the Bahamas crashed into a residential area near Cresthaven, Florida, around 12:50 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1. All nine people aboard died. Two weeks on, the National Transportation Safety Board is still working the site, and it has not determined what went wrong.

What the flight data shows

The jet left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 10:37 a.m. ET, headed for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, according to the NTSB.

At about 12:47 p.m., the crew told Miami air traffic control they were at 35,000 feet. The outside temperature was -53°F. They reported moderate turbulence with altitude deviations of about 700 feet and light clear ice.

The crew then said they were picking up precipitation and asked to climb to 37,000 feet. Controllers approved it.

Less than 30 seconds later, the crew made a mayday call and reported descending. At about 12:48 p.m., the NTSB confirmed a transmission that said: "we are in an overspeed condition, descending."

Dashcam video shows the jet falling steeply and hitting the ground nose-first, followed by a large fireball. Investigators have obtained that footage to help reconstruct the final moments.

Tail piece found miles away

Chapman said most of the aircraft's left elevator, the tail surface that controls whether the nose points up or down, was recovered in a neighborhood between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site.

That places a major flight-control component far from the crater. The NTSB has not said what separated it or when.

Chapman said he does not believe the elevator would have helped the aircraft recover from its rapid descent even if it had stayed attached.

Investigators are also examining how weather played a role. Severe weather has slowed recovery work, and the impact crater has filled with water. Chapman said he expects more components to be found, though they will likely be small given the force of the crash. Recovered wreckage is being held for analysis.

Officials are asking anyone who finds debris to leave it alone and call authorities.

No Mar-a-Lago connection, NTSB says

The crash site is roughly nine miles from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Asked whether the crash had any link to Secret Service operations, Chapman said there is no evidence of one and called it coincidence.

No source has offered evidence to the contrary.

Gov. Ron DeSantis described the crash as "cataclysmic" and said it "looked like a missile going down." He said it left "a big crater on the side of the road" and scattered debris over a significant distance.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called it a "horrific tragedy" and said the FAA was sending a team to support the NTSB.

The victims

The NTSB has confirmed two pilots and seven passengers were aboard. Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo, the incident commander, said the medical examiner is handling identification and that DNA matching is "a lengthy process."

The first victim publicly identified was co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, of Palm Beach County. Her mother, Camila, and her stepfather confirmed her identity to the New York Post. Her family said it was her voice on the air traffic control recordings.

Filgueiras earned her private pilot's license in 2023 at 17. She went on to earn commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings and became a certified flight instructor.

Other passengers have been named in news reports as Austin technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, his wife Helen Sharp, 40, and their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2.

One person on the ground was hurt. A man in a vehicle leaving the area at the time of the crash suffered a leg injury and was due to be interviewed by the NTSB. DeSantis said early on that no one on the ground had been reported killed.

Neighborhood fallout

About 600 residents near Military Trail and Cresthaven Boulevard were evacuated. County spokesperson John Jamason said 40 to 50 people were staying at the Greenacres Community Center.

County officials were seeking state funding for housing and transportation for displaced residents while authorities worked the site.

First responders closed Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North on the day of the crash. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue warned of an "extended incident."

What remains unanswered

The pieces the NTSB has laid out are consistent with an aircraft that began coming apart before it hit the ground. They do not yet explain why.

The NTSB has not said whether the overspeed condition came before or after any structural failure. Nor has it said how the ice, turbulence and precipitation the crew reported fit in.

The agency has publicly pointed to weather as one area under review, not a conclusion. Until the recovered wreckage is analyzed and the elevator's separation is explained, the cause of the crash is an open question.