Learjet 60 Crashes in Palm Beach County, Killing All Nine Aboard

A Learjet 60 crashed beside a multi-lane road in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, killing all nine people on board. The aircraft, registration N722BD, had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

Air traffic control recordings captured the final minutes. The crew reported light clear ice and moderate turbulence, then requested a climb. Shortly afterward, a voice declared a mayday, stating the jet was in an overspeed condition and descending at rates that climbed from 10,000 to 20,000 feet per minute. The last transmission included the words "we're out of time."

Dashcam video from vehicles on Military Trail showed the jet in a near-vertical dive before it struck the ground near the intersection with 10th Avenue North, in the Greenacres-Cresthaven area. The impact created a crater and scattered debris across the roadway and nearby mobile homes. No injuries on the ground have been reported.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the nine fatalities. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the crash as cataclysmic and said the aircraft appeared to descend like a missile. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a go-team to lead the investigation, with FAA support.

The Learjet, a 2004 model registered to a Delaware limited liability company, is a mid-size business jet designed for high-speed, long-range travel. Bombardier, the manufacturer, has said it will cooperate with investigators. Preliminary reports indicate the crew had been managing icing conditions at altitude before the rapid loss of control.

Local authorities closed sections of Military Trail while emergency crews secured the site and recovered remains. Residents described debris striking homes and the roadway burning. The crash occurred roughly nine miles from Mar-a-Lago.

This is the second-deadliest U.S. aviation accident of 2026 according to available NTSB records. Business jets operate under different regulatory and operational regimes than commercial airliners, with smaller crews and different weather-handling procedures. Investigators will examine flight data, cockpit voice recordings if available, weather conditions, and aircraft systems.

Icing and turbulence are routine hazards at altitude. Aircraft systems are designed to manage them, but rapid transitions into overspeed or control loss can leave little recovery time once a steep descent begins. The high descent rates reported in the final radio calls suggest the crew faced a situation that developed within seconds.

The NTSB briefing is expected in West Palm Beach. Full determination of cause typically takes months. In the meantime, the families of the nine occupants, whose identities have not yet been released publicly, confront the loss of a flight that was expected to end in the Bahamas.

Palm Beach County has seen previous aviation incidents, but few have produced this combination of high descent rate, public video evidence, and zero survivors. The investigation will also consider whether any maintenance, operational, or environmental factors contributed to the sequence that began with routine icing reports and ended in a vertical impact.