A Learjet 60 business jet crashed into a residential neighborhood near Greenacres, in Palm Beach County, Florida, at about 12:50 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, November 1, killing all nine people on board — seven passengers and two crew members. One person on the ground suffered a leg injury. The jet had taken off from Austin, Texas, that morning, bound for the Bahamas.
What happened
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 10:37 a.m. Eastern, headed for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The National Transportation Safety Board says the flight was operated by Aurora Airlines, doing business as Upper Jets.
The jet came down near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, in an unincorporated area between Greenacres and Palm Springs, striking a mobile home neighborhood. The crash scattered debris across a wide area, started multiple fires, and forced roughly 600 people to evacuate. The impact crater filled with water from the storms moving through the area.
The final minutes
The crew was flying at about 35,000 feet when they reported icing conditions and moderate turbulence to air traffic control, and then asked to climb to 37,000 feet because of increased precipitation. Thunderstorms were moving through South Florida at the time.
Moments later, according to air traffic control recordings and flight-tracking data reported by USA TODAY, the crew reported the jet descending rapidly — first at about 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute. Flightradar24 data showed the descent rate briefly exceeding 32,000 feet per minute. About a minute after the trouble began, the aircraft crashed.
Who was aboard
As of Monday, the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office was still working to officially identify the nine victims. Family members have identified the passengers as Adam Robinson, 45, an Austin technology entrepreneur; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; their two young children, Emma and Charlie; the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
The family of co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, confirmed she was one of the two pilots killed. A colleague identified the captain as Jeff Gregory; officials had not formally released the crew’s names as of Monday afternoon.
The investigation
The NTSB is leading the investigation, with the FAA assisting. At a news conference on Monday, November 2, NTSB member Thomas Chapman said investigators have already found evidence that the aircraft began breaking apart before impact, though they have not determined what caused the crash, and he declined to speculate. Weather conditions at the time are a major focus of the inquiry.
One key target of the search is the cockpit voice recorder. Chapman said records indicate a recorder was installed on the aircraft at some point, but investigators do not yet know whether it was still on board. “We’re very hopeful that we can recover it,” he said. Recovering the wreckage from the water-filled crater and the debris field is expected to take several days.
It is far too early for conclusions. What is known is that a routine flight from Texas to the Bahamas ended, in about a minute, in one of the deadliest U.S. business jet crashes in years — and that the answers now sit in a debris field in Palm Beach County and, investigators hope, in a recorder that has not yet been found.
Sources: NTSB media briefing, November 2, 2026; Federal Aviation Administration statements; USA TODAY reporting on the crash, the victims, and the flight’s final minutes.
