'We're Going to Crash Into the Ground': the Pilot's Final Calls, Ice at -47 Degrees and a 27,000-Foot Plunge in One Minute, as the Austin Learjet Investigation Enters Day Two

Investigators on Monday took over the second day of the inquiry into the Learjet 60 that left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for the Bahamas on Sunday and nosedived into a Florida roadway, killing all nine people aboard. The jet plunged at 450 feet per second and left a massive crater near passing cars in Palm Beach County, CNN reported. No injuries were reported from the ground. Authorities have not identified the nine people killed or established what caused the disaster, and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, is expected to hold a news conference Monday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called it a cataclysmic crash, saying it looked like a missile going down.

Air traffic recordings captured by LiveATC.net trace the flight's final minutes. The pilot first calmly reported ice accumulating on the aircraft, with an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius, and moderate turbulence that bounced the plane by up to 700 feet, CNN reported. Moments later the pilot shouted Mayday, reported descending 10,000 feet per minute, then an overspeed descent of 20,000 feet per minute, and said the jet was going to crash into the ground. In reality, ADS-B Exchange data shows the jet plummeted 27,000 feet in one minute before flight tracking cut off, and Flightradar24 data showed a vertical descent rate that at one point exceeded 32,000 feet per minute, USA TODAY reported. Its audio report also captured the pilot's final transmission: 'We're out of time.'

Weather is emerging as a major factor in the investigation, CNN reported: there were scattered storms in the area, and the plane passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before it began descending, though it is unclear whether the storm contributed to the crash. The NTSB published a safety alert in January 2024 emphasizing the risks of in-flight icing, which can make an airplane's flightpath and airspeed harder to manage and can prevent it from maintaining level flight. Aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, told CNN the descent was not controlled and that it was clear the crew had lost control of the plane; she said the flight data recorder might have been destroyed in the explosion and that it is not clear whether the jet carried a cockpit voice recorder.

On the ground, the jet hit shortly before 1 p.m. Eastern on Military Trail, a major thoroughfare between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said. About 600 people need shelter because the damage is blocking the entrance to a mobile home park, and residents are being sent to two shelters in the county, Commissioner Joel Flores said. The crash damaged power lines and water mains, a local school was closed on Monday, and local officials said it will take a month or more to reopen the road where the jet came down.

Sunday's crash was the second deadliest plane crash in the United States this year, according to NTSB records - 12 people died when a skydiving plane crashed in Butler, Missouri, in June - and the deadliest crash involving a Learjet 60, according to Flight Safety Foundation data; four people were killed when a Learjet 60 bound for Los Angeles crashed on takeoff from Columbia, South Carolina, in 2008. The plane is registered to an LLC in Delaware, according to FAA records, and is listed as available for charter online, CNN reported. Austin Capital News first reported the crash on Sunday; this file will be updated when the NTSB briefs.