Learjet 60 crashes in Palm Beach County, killing all nine aboard

A privately operated Bombardier Learjet 60 crashed on a residential street in Greenacres, Palm Beach County, Florida, at about 12:50 p.m. EST on November 1, 2026, killing all nine people on board.

The aircraft, registered N722BD and owned by a Delaware corporation, had departed Austin–Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. Air traffic control recordings captured the crew reporting a rapid descent, an overspeed condition, and then declaring an emergency. One transmission described a descent of 20,000 feet per minute and the words “We’re gonna crash… We’re out of time.” Flight tracking data showed the jet losing roughly 27,000 feet in about one minute before impact.

The plane struck near the intersection of Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, close to the entrance of a mobile home community. The impact created a large crater, scattered debris across the roadway and ignited a fireball. No one on the ground was reported killed, but county officials said about 600 residents needed temporary shelter because the crash blocked access to their park. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the descent as looking “like a missile going down.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the nine fatalities and called the event a horrific tragedy. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration opened investigations. The aircraft was a 22-year-old Learjet 60. Preliminary reports noted mentions of ice and turbulence in the crew’s final communications, but investigators have not yet determined the cause. The crash is the second-deadliest U.S. aviation accident of 2026 after a skydiving plane crash in Missouri that killed 12 in June.

The site lies roughly nine miles south of Mar-a-Lago. Dash-camera footage circulated quickly, showing the jet’s near-vertical descent and the subsequent explosion. Emergency crews worked through the evening to extinguish remaining fires and secure the debris field. The road remains closed while the investigation continues.

Authorities have not released the names of the occupants. The NTSB will examine the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, weather conditions along the route, and the aircraft’s maintenance history. Until those findings are complete, the precise sequence that led from level flight at altitude to an unrecoverable dive remains under investigation.

The accident adds to a year of elevated concern over business-jet operations. It also leaves families of the nine people aboard, and residents of the affected neighbourhood, waiting for answers that the formal investigation is only beginning to pursue.