Newly released 911 audio details chilling moments after Florida Learjet crash as new details are released
A Learjet 60 carrying nine people crashed into a residential area of Greenacres, Florida, on Sunday, killing everyone on board.
Authorities have since released recordings of the panicked 911 calls made in the aftermath, which NBC6 obtained on Friday.
"I think an airplane, a rocket, something fell from the sky," one caller told the dispatcher.
"We felt our house shake, and then we heard an explosion when we ran outside," the caller continued. They did not see what came down, they said, but sparks flew and there was 'a bunch of smoke'.
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Another caller put the blast close to people's homes.
"It is a really big explosion," they told the dispatcher. "It's around the trailer homes that are built here."
The jet came down at around 12:50 p.m. ET, about 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach, leaving a crater in the roadway and thick black smoke over the site as rain pounded the area. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the crash 'cataclysmic', saying the aircraft looked like a missile coming down.
Those killed included pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, alongside technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, the couple's friends and the children's nanny. About 600 residents of nearby mobile homes were displaced, and a shelter was set up for people from almost 80 homes.
What happened to the Learjet before it crashed?
The plane, operated by Aurora Aviation, which does business as Upper Jets, left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 10:37 a.m. bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman said at a Monday briefing.
There were two crew members and seven passengers on board.
At about 12:47 p.m., while flying at 35,000 feet, the crew reported light clear ice and moderate turbulence, with altitude deviations of about 700 feet.
They gave the outside temperature as minus 47 degrees Celsius (minus 53 degrees Fahrenheit).
The crew then reported precipitation and asked to climb to 37,000 feet, which air traffic control approved. Less than 30 seconds later, the plane said it was descending, followed by a mayday call. Filgueiras radioed: "Declare an emergency 722-Bravo-Delta. We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute!"
What caused the Florida jet crash?
Investigators are searching a debris field measuring about half a mile by four-tenths of a mile, which takes in ball fields, businesses and homes, investigator Timothy Monville said.
"We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact," Chapman said. It has not yet been determined whether parts such as the tail separated beforehand.
Officials do not yet know whether a cockpit voice recorder remained on the aircraft, although maintenance records show one was installed. Water in the crater has also complicated access to the wreckage. One person on the ground, a man in a vehicle leaving the area, suffered a leg injury.
The NTSB has not determined a cause, and Chapman said investigators would not speculate at this early stage.
It plans to publish a preliminary report describing the facts, though not analysis or cause, about 30 days after the crash.
Thomas Bamford
