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Apocalyptic video shows the massive, fiery crater left in a Florida street after a private jet nose-dived out of the sky, killing all nine people on board — as the doomed pilot’s last communication could hold a clue as to what caused the tragedy.
The Learjet, which was traveling from Texas to the Bahamas, plunged some 27,000 feet in a minute, crashing into the ground “like a missile” in Palm Beach County on Sunday.
Dramatic footage shared online shows a gaping hole in the street and debris strewn across the road, as fires raging from the crater billow smoke into the air.
The cause of the disaster is under investigation; however, the pilot warned of ice minutes before issuing a harrowing Mayday call.
The so-far unidentified female aviator reported to Miami air traffic controllers that ice was accumulating on the aircraft, with an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have previously warned about the dangers of flying in icy conditions.
Here’s the latest on the fatal Learjet crash in Florida
- Learjet co-pilot in fatal Florida crash ID’d as 20-year-old who got her license in high school
- At least 9 dead after $2M Learjet crashes into Florida mobile home park: ‘Sounded like a missile’
- Apocalyptic video shows fiery crater after deadly Florida plane crash — as pilot’s last message could hold a clue
- Haunting final message from Learjet as it plummeted in Florida with 9 dead: ‘We’re out of time’
In 2024, the agency released a safety alert cautioning that ice could “cause flight instruments to cease operating,” which can prevent airplanes from “maintaining level flight.”
The $2 million Learjet 60 plane, which had taken off from Austin, nosedived near a mobile home community in Greenacres, Palm Beach County — less than eight miles from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Officials have not identified the nine who died.
Outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the crash as “cataclysmic.”
