The Update on That Learjet Crash in Florida Is Beyond Tragic

Nov 03, 2026 12:45 AM
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The Update on That Learjet Crash in Florida Is Beyond Tragic
AP Photo/Julio Cortez

It’s an unbelievable and disturbing video: a Learjet crashed in Palm Beach County on Sunday. Learjet 60 was flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Seven passengers and two crew were on board. All were killed. One of the pilots was identified as Nathalia Gadelha, 20. The other victims were Adam Robinson, 45; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; Emma, 2; Charlie, 4; the children's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, according to the Palm Beach Post. 

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The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation is ongoing. Weather and ice accumulation may have played a role. The ATC recording is embedded. It’s disturbing to hear the pilots panic as they run out of time (via Palm Beach Post):

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The private jet, bound from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, plummeted into the ground at Military Trail and Cresthaven Boulevard near Greenacres and exploded into a fireball. The impact sent debris flying, crushing cars, cutting power, damaging a water main and displacing an estimated 600 people from nearby mobile homes.

[…]

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Nov. 2 defended Filgueiras on his personal X account, pushing back against online criticism of the 20-year-old co-pilot.

Isaacman pointed out Filgueiras was the second-in-command aboard the private jet and was communicating with air traffic controllers shortly before the crash.

In the recording, a person in the cockpit said the crew was "managing the ice," encountering "moderate" turbulence and seeking "better rides," according to audio posted by LiveATC, a website that broadcasts air traffic control communications.

"She was doing her job, communicating with ATC right to the end in a terrifying situation," Isaacman wrote on X, in remarks first published by Florida Today. "She likely knew before many of those calls that she was going to die."

Isaacman cautioned the public against drawing conclusions about what caused the crash before investigators complete their works.

[…]

As they comb through a half-mile radius of debris one day after the crash, investigators are looking into whether the plane began to come apart in the air. 

“We do have some evidence that there was some breaking up of the airplane before impact,” said NTSB board member Tom Chapman.

Federal aviation investigators were battling the elements Monday as they worked to salvage parts from the aircraft spread over a half-mile debris field. The crater where the plane struck the ground has been filling with water amid the heavy rains, complicating the investigation.

“There’s water in the crater,” Chapman said. “There will definitely be some challenges.”

[…]

The crew’s report of ice and sub-zero temperatures in the atmosphere above a stormy South Florida is “a major focus” of the ongoing investigation, an NTSB official said. 

The plane’s crew radioed moments before the crash to report clear ice and air temperatures of negative 53 degrees Fahrenheit, though they said at the time the ice was “manageable,” an NTSB official said. 

“The weather conditions are a major factor of the investigation,” NTSB board member Tom Chapman said at a Nov. 2 news conference.

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Just horrific. 

Former Cincinatti Bengals running back Joe Mixon posted about the incident on his Twitter, praying for the families of the victims of the crash while noting he took the exact same aircraft last month and complimented the two pilots, describing them as wonderful and professional. 

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