A business jet that crashed in Florida, killing all nine people aboard, including a family with two young children, may have started breaking apart before hitting the ground and erupting in flames, a federal investigator has said.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Monday that investigators found evidence suggesting the aircraft began breaking apart before impact.
The jet plunged towards the ground, leaving a crater and a wide debris field as heavy rain battered the area. Investigators said weather conditions would be a major focus of the initial investigation, alongside the actions of the crew and possible mechanical problems.
The aircraft burst into flames when it crashed in Greenacres, about seven miles (11 kilometres) southwest of West Palm Beach. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site, with little of the plane remaining.
The victims included 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who made the final radio transmissions, as well as technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, relatives said.
About 600 nearby residents remain displaced, while one person was reported injured on the ground.
NTSB member Tom Chapman said at a news conference on Monday that investigators had found evidence the aircraft started breaking apart before hitting the ground.
He said debris could have been scattered across a wide area.
“We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site,” Chapman said.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, said key components of the jet’s tail may have been lost during turbulence or as the aircraft plunged towards the ground.
He said the loss of those components could have made the plane impossible to control.
“That very well could explain the missile-like profile just before it hit the ground,” he said.
Chapman said weather conditions would be a major focus of the investigation.
Heavy rain battered the region on Sunday, while one of the pilots reported icing conditions at a high altitude.
Air traffic controllers warned the pilots about approaching storms as they crossed into Florida. The Federal Aviation Administration had also published an official weather warning earlier.
AccuWeather said the tops of some storm clouds reached 45,000 feet, making it difficult for aircraft to fly above them.
AccuWeather’s Dan DePodwin said aircraft weather radars have limitations and cannot always detect updrafts that can generate additional precipitation.
Chapman said investigators still needed to establish the weather conditions at 35,000 feet (11,000 metres), the altitude at which the aircraft was flying when the pilot began reporting problems.
Retired airline pilot John Cox, who is now chief executive of the Safety Operating Systems consulting business, said the conditions described by the pilot over the radio would have terrified him.
The pilot reported significant turbulence and liquid precipitation freezing on the aircraft at minus 47 degrees Celsius (minus 52.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Cox said precipitation at that altitude and temperature typically comes in the form of ice crystals that simply pass around the aircraft.
“Those are all really big red flags to me,” he said.
Cox questioned why the aircraft flew into the storm system at that altitude rather than avoiding it or attempting to fly above it.
He said investigators would need to establish why the crew chose that route.
Chapman said the aircraft was originally equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, which investigators hope to recover.
However, heavy rain in Florida has complicated the investigation, with the crater left by the aircraft filled with rainwater.
NTSB investigator Timothy Monville said recovering the wreckage would take several days.
“This will be a several-day process, and the biggest obstacle that we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway,” Monville said at the news conference.
Investigators are continuing to examine the aircraft, weather conditions and crew actions to establish what caused the crash.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
Follow us on:
