Florida crash: Learjet may have broken up before fatal dive, pilot heard praying in audio

The National Transportation Safety Board has said that the Learjet 60 that crashed in Florida on Sunday may have broken up before coming down. The horrific accident killed all nine people on board after the plane crashed in a residential area in Palm ​Beach County. The jet was flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. It hit the ground at high speed amid heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in the area.

"We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact," NTSB board member Tom Chapman said. "We may find parts ⁠of ​the aircraft some distance away from the actual ​impact site."

Florida Learjet 60 crash caught on camera

The crash was captured on a car's dashcam and shows the plane nosediving to the ground and exploding. It left a huge crater near the entrance to a mobile home park. When a jet comes down at high speed, it can break up, subjecting the people inside to extreme pressure. NTSB board member Tom Chapman said, "The weather conditions are a major focus of the investigation." Maintenance records show the jet had a cockpit voice recorder installed, but investigators do not know whether it was still on the plane.

Florida Learjet crash audio

The pilots reported ice at 35,000 feet, and soon reported that the plane was coming down ⁠at a rate of 10,000 feet per minute. "We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000ft per minute," co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras can be heard saying in audio from the plane revealed.

The plane then accelerated to 22,000 feet per minute before the fatal crash. In the distress call, the co-pilot can be heard saying, “holy f**k we’re out of time" before going silent. The plane's captain, who has been identified by TMZ as Jeff Gregory, can be heard reciting a prayer. "Who are in heaven, hallowed to be the name,” the captain can be heard saying, while his co-pilot screams, "We’re going to crash into the ground."

Filgueiras was only 20 and had received her license at the age of 17. In a text message to her boyfriend, she reported experiencing turbulence. She also told the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers that the crew was managing ice, which they encountered while flying through temperatures of -50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Florida crash victims

Officials have named the occupants of the jet. Multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44, his wife Helen, 40, and their two children, four-year-old Emma and Charlie, two, were on the plane. Their nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and two family friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, also lost their lives, along with the two pilots.