Florida crash: Learjet fragments found 3-6km from crash site indicate they fell when plane was midair

Fragments of the Learjet 60 private aircraft have been found scattered as far as six kilometres away from the crash site. Earlier, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had said that many pieces of the jet may have scattered to far-off areas. The jet plunged in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard. A part that controlled the up-and-down movements of the nose of the plane was also found several kilometres away.

NTSB had found signs that the plane started breaking apart midair before it crashed. NTSB board member Tom Chapman said that they had found "the majority" of the Learjet's left elevator, a control surface on the tail, in three pieces. Discovering parts "quite some distance away" from the site indicates that they fell off even before the plane crashed, investigators said.

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"Knowing that it was lost is a very important piece of evidence in terms of pointing us towards other things to investigate," he said. Investigators are now trying to determine whether the left elevator falling off caused the plane to crash, or whether pressure from the extreme weather caused it to separate from the jet.

A mayday call and then silence

The Learjet 60 took off from Austin, Texas, for the Bahamas, where the occupants were reportedly travelling for a birthday party. But it encountered heavy rain and thunderstorms on the way. The co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, can be heard saying, "We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000ft per minute," in the distress call from the plane.

"We’re going to crash into the ground," she also says. Jeff Gregory, the Captain, can be heard reciting a prayer, "Who are in heaven, hallowed to be the name" before everything went silent.

Also Read: 'I’ve got ice': 20-year-old co-pilot's last text to her boyfriend minutes before Florida crash

She also told the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers that the crew was managing ice. She also messaged her boyfriend about it 10 minutes before the crash. "I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice," she texted him, according to Nathalia's family.

The plane nosedived into a multi-lane highway and exploded on impact. Chapman said that they were facing problems accessing the wreckage because of the crater.

Victims of the crash were identified as entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two children - Emma, four, and Charlie, two. Two family friends of the family, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and Anita Maria Cetina, a nanny, also lost their lives in the crash.