Nine people boarded a private jet in Austin on Sunday, headed for the Bahamas. None of them made it. Minutes after the crew reported ice and turbulence over South Florida, the plane came down beside a busy Palm Beach County road and erupted into a fireball.
What happened
According to the FAA, a Learjet 60 crashed in a residential area near Cresthaven at around 12:50 p.m. local time on Sunday, Nov. 1. Nine people were on board. The jet had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the agency said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed on X that all nine people on board were killed. He called it a "horrific tragedy," adding: "Please join me in praying for the families and loved ones of those we lost."
WPBF reports that the jet went down near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North in Greenacres, about 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach according to AP. The impact left a crater in the roadway, near the only entrance to the Cresthaven mobile home park.
Dashcam footage from a driver captured the moment of impact:
https://twitter.com/OANN/status/2117243981457482134
For a sense of how fast it all happened, X user @thejonfredric posted a 2-minute visualization of the final descent. He says he built it from ADS-B flight tracks, final ATC radio calls, aerial imagery and crash-site photos, and that it ends with the actual dashcam impact footage. It's a reconstruction, not official footage, and he says estimated portions are marked.
https://twitter.com/thejonfredric/status/2117103972116738375
The final minutes
Flightradar24 identifies the jet as N722BD, a Learjet 60 built in 2004. It left Austin at 15:37 UTC and cruised east across the Gulf. FAA records list the owner as a Delaware LLC, and WPBF reports that the jet was listed online as available for charter.
Air traffic control audio posted on LiveATC and reported by Yahoo News, Reuters and WPBF tells a terrifying story. According to WPBF, the pilot told controllers: "We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence." The crew then reported flying into precipitation and asked to climb, according to Flightradar24 and AP.
Less than a minute later, according to Yahoo News, someone in the cockpit called "Mayday, mayday" and reported the plane was descending at 10,000 feet per minute. The rate climbed to 20,000 and then 22,000 feet per minute. Reuters reported the words: "We're going to crash into the ground." The last words heard from the cockpit, per Yahoo News, were "we're out of time."
Flightradar24 says the jet's descent rate at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute. Its last altitude reading was 8,750 feet.
On the ground
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were no reports of anyone on the ground being hurt, despite debris strewn over what he called a "pretty significant distance."
"It was a cataclysmic plane crash," DeSantis said. "It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road."
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said about 600 residents were evacuated. CBS12 reports that evacuees were taken to the Greenacres Community Center and that nearby John I. Leonard High School was closed on Monday. Officials told CBS12 that the closure of Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North could last for weeks.
Aki Kuusisto, the driver whose dashcam caught the crash, told CBS News: "I heard a whistling noise, a big bang, and I saw a fireball. It felt like it was right next to us... you could feel it in the car."
Anthony Blackmon, who lives about 500 feet from the site, told NBC Miami that debris hit his home. "Debris was everywhere," he said. "Everything was on fire. The road was on fire."
The 20-year-old in the right seat
One of the nine has now been identified by her family, though not yet by officials. CBS12 reports that her family named her as 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras and said she was co-piloting the jet. Patch, citing the New York Post, reports that her mother and stepfather confirmed she was aboard and gives her surname as Gadelha. Outlets are using both names, and authorities have not released any victims' identities.
Her family describes her role as co-pilot, which would mean she was the second-in-command, not the captain. The captain has not been publicly identified.
According to CBS12, which interviewed her in 2023, she earned her private pilot's license at 17 while attending West Boca Raton High School, before she even had a driver's license. She started ground school in 2020, learned about flying from her father, and had logged 88 flight hours when she got that license, CBS12 reported. Patch says she was supported by the School District of Palm Beach County's Aviation Academy.
What hasn't been reported is how many hours she had by Sunday, which ratings she held, or who employed her. Those are exactly the questions the NTSB will look at.
How can a 20-year-old fly a jet like this?
It sounds shocking, but under FAA rules it can be legal. Here's how the ladder works, according to Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
- Commercial pilot certificate at 18. Section 61.123 sets 18 as the minimum age to be paid to fly.
- Airline transport pilot (ATP) at 23, or a restricted ATP at 21. Section 61.153 sets those ages. The FAA's 2013 rule, published in the Federal Register, says a full ATP requires 1,500 hours. Military pilots and graduates of approved aviation degree programs can get a restricted ATP at 21 with fewer hours.
- The 1,500-hour rule is for airlines. Under Section 121.436 and that 2013 rule, both pilots on a Part 121 airline flight need an ATP. The FAA's own training page says the restricted ATP lets a pilot serve as co-pilot until reaching 1,500 hours. That rule covers scheduled airlines, not private jets.
- Charter flights (Part 135). For a passenger-carrying turbojet charter, Section 135.243 requires the captain to hold an ATP. Under Section 135.245, the second-in-command needs at least a commercial certificate and an instrument rating. A 20-year-old can meet that.
- Private flights (Part 91). The rules are lighter. Under Section 61.55, a co-pilot needs at least a private pilot certificate, an instrument rating for IFR flights, and recent training in the type. For flights leaving U.S. airspace, such as a trip to the Bahamas, they also need at least a pilot type rating for the aircraft.
- Type rating for the captain. Section 61.31 requires whoever acts as pilot in command of a turbojet like the Learjet 60 to hold a type rating for that aircraft.
Which of these rules applied on Sunday depends on whether the flight was a Part 135 charter or a Part 91 private flight. That hasn't been confirmed. WPBF reported that the jet was listed online as available for charter, but no official has said how this trip was operated.
None of this says anything about whether experience played a role. Investigators have not said what caused the crash.
How to check your pilot before you fly
If you ever book a private or charter flight, you have more power than you think:
- Look the pilots up yourself. The FAA's Airmen Inquiry search, on the FAA website, is free and public. Type in a pilot's name to see what certificates and ratings they hold, such as commercial or ATP, plus type ratings. It won't show flight hours.
- Ask your charter broker hard questions. Ask which company is actually operating the flight (brokers often don't fly the planes themselves), and ask for that operator's FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate. Ask how many total hours, and hours in that specific aircraft type, the captain and co-pilot have. A legitimate operator should be able to answer.
- Check for an independent safety audit. Third-party auditors like ARGUS and Wyvern rate charter operators on safety and pilot experience. Ask whether the operator holds a current rating, and at what level.
What we don't know yet
The cause hasn't been determined. The NTSB is leading the investigation with help from the FAA.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo told AP that ice and turbulence could have caused the plane to stall. That is one expert's view, not a finding. Investigators have not said what happened.
Authorities had not publicly identified the nine victims as of Monday morning, according to CBS12 and Patch. The only name here comes from the co-pilot's family, as reported by CBS12 and the New York Post. Other names circulating on social media have not been confirmed, and Sippin won't repeat them. The NTSB scheduled a briefing for 1 p.m. ET Monday in West Palm Beach with board member Tom Chapman, according to CBS12 and Patch. We'll update this story with what investigators say.
Our thoughts are with the families of the nine people who were lost, and with the Greenacres neighbors who watched it happen.
Image: Still from dashcam video by Aki Kuusisto, via One America News (OAN)
