A series of desperate emergency transmissions has revealed the terrifying final moments aboard a Learjet that plunged into a residential area in South Florida, killing all nine people on board.
The private aircraft went down Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach County, Florida, after its crew reported icing conditions, moderate turbulence and a rapidly deteriorating situation. What followed was an extraordinary sequence of distress calls as the aircraft lost altitude at an astonishing rate.
The jet, identified as a Learjet 60, had departed Austin, Texas, and was headed for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Instead of reaching its destination, the aircraft crashed near a mobile home community, erupting into a massive fireball and leaving a huge crater near a roadway.
All nine occupants, including the flight crew and passengers, were killed. Their identities had not been officially released in the initial reports following the disaster.
