Blow-by-blow account of Florida jet crash: 'Looked like a missile going down' | Gravitas

It was half past ten in the morning. A business jet took off from Texas and was headed to the Bahamas.

Close to 1 pm though, disaster struck.

The Bombardier Learjet 60 crashed into a Florida neighbourhood and erupted into a massive fireball, killing all nine people onboard. Thick black smoke filled the air. Burning debris were scattered along the roadside.

The crash also left a huge crater.

While the plane received clearance to climb to 37,000 feet, it reported an uncontrolled descent.

After the mayday call was issued, the rate of descent accelerated to over 20,000 feet per minute.

The final moments before the crash were captured in a cockpit audio recording.

Soon after the plane crash, first responders reached the spot. 600 residents from the surrounding area were evacuated to two shelters.

The crash occurred in Palm Springs, which is less than eleven kilometres from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Incidentally, Trump himself had been at Mar-a-Lago until morning and departed from a nearby airport on Air Force One about an hour before the crash.

This marked the second deadliest plane crash in U.S. this year.

In June, 12 people died when a skydiving plane crashed in Missouri.

This was also the worst crash involving a Learjet 60 jet.

But what LED to this deadly crash?

Investigators are reportedly probing whether climatic conditions played a part in the crash.

This is vital as the plane encountered turbulence and icing.

In 2024, U.S. warned that icing conditions can cause pilots to lose control.

Now, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has launched a probe into the plane crash and is likely to give more details later on Monday.