Nine Killed as Bahamas-Bound Learjet Crashes Near Greenacres in Palm Beach County

All nine people aboard a Learjet 60 died Sunday afternoon when the Bahamas-bound jet crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, after a steep descent that ended near a busy road, federal and state officials said.

The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It went down around 12:50 p.m. near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in an unincorporated area near Greenacres, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the deaths in a post on X just before 4 p.m., calling the crash a “horrific tragedy.” Officials had not released the names of those aboard by Sunday evening, or said how many were passengers and how many were crew.

Final radio calls described ice and turbulence

Minutes before the crash, the pilot told air traffic controllers the plane had picked up light ice and was in moderate turbulence, according to a recording of radio calls captured by LiveATC.net and cited by CNN. The pilot then reported precipitation, asked to climb, and declared an emergency.

“We’re descending 8,000, mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot said, according to the recording. “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute. We’re going to crash into the ground.” Flight tracking data showed the jet dropping 27,000 feet in one minute before the data cut off, according to ADS-B Exchange.

Scattered storms were in the area at the time, and the plane had passed through a stronger storm cell minutes before it began to descend, CNN reported. The flight was in an area covered by an FAA warning for thunderstorms and threats to aircraft, known as a convective SIGMET. Officials have not said whether weather played a role, and the cause of the crash is unknown.

No deaths reported on the ground as investigation begins

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who visited the site Sunday evening, said the crash looked “like a missile going down” and described it as a “cataclysmic plane crash.” He said there were no reported deaths or injuries among people on the ground, though the crash left a wide debris field and a crater beside the road.

About 600 people who live in a nearby mobile home park need shelter because the crash scene blocks the entrance to the park, Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said. Residents were sent to two county shelters while the site is investigated. All lanes of Military Trail in the area were closed, and drivers were told to avoid the area and use other routes.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, with the FAA assisting. NTSB investigators were expected to arrive at the site Sunday and Monday, and a news conference is planned for Monday, CNN reported.

The crash is the second deadliest in the United States this year, according to NTSB records cited by CNN, after a skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, in June that killed 12. It is also the worst crash involving a Learjet 60, according to data from the Flight Safety Foundation.

The crash site is about four miles south of the airport in West Palm Beach and about eight miles southwest of Mar-a-Lago. President Donald Trump had departed West Palm Beach on Air Force One a little more than an hour before the crash, CNN reported. As of Sunday night, there was no indication the jet was shot down, the Palm Beach Post reported, despite social media speculation tied to flight restrictions in place while the president was in the area.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN, Reuters, and The Palm Beach Post.