NTSB: Broken tail part found 4 miles from Florida crash site

Investigators confirmed Tuesday that a major section of the tail from the Learjet that crashed in Florida was found nearly four miles from the impact site. The discovery indicates the aircraft began breaking apart before it hit the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman stated that most of the left elevator was located in three separate pieces. These fragments were found between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from Greenacres, near West Palm Beach.

The left elevator is a critical control surface that manages the pitch of the plane. Chapman explained that without this part intact, the pilot would not have been able to pull the jet out of its nosedive. He noted that while the speed of the dive might have made recovery difficult even with the part attached, the loss of the elevator is a key piece of evidence. It points investigators toward specific areas to examine next in determining what caused the loss of control.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said that the broken pieces were likely a result of the nosedive rather than the cause. He argued that the short distance between the scattered parts and the crash site suggests they detached closer to the ground. If the components had broken off at high altitude, the wind would have carried them much farther away.

The flight departed from Austin, Texas, and was bound for the Bahamas. All nine people on board died when the Learjet 60 slammed into the ground Sunday afternoon. The victims included technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children. The cockpit crew consisted of pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, from the Philadelphia suburbs, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras.

During the final moments of the flight, a man's voice was heard reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background of the co-pilot's radio transmissions. Friends believe the voice belonged to Gregory, a longtime aviator and devout Christian. Thomas Noetzel, the director of operations for Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, started an online fundraiser to support Gregory's family. Noetzel described Gregory as a devoted and conscientious man with a strong love for flying and the Lord.

Filgueiras texted her boyfriend about ten minutes before the crash, reporting turbulence and ice. In the final two minutes, her communications with air traffic control shifted from calm to urgent. She reported that ice was accumulating and that turbulence had thrown the plane up and down by more than 700 feet. She stated they were going to crash into the ground as the jet descended at a rate of more than 20,000 feet per minute. Her final words were that they were out of time.

The impact created a crater and caused a fire that displaced about 600 nearby residents. Only one person on the ground was reported injured. Investigators have been collecting dashcam video and speaking with witnesses in the area. Heavy rain has delayed some work, but the team plans to access the crater on Wednesday to look for critical components of the plane.

Chapman said weather remains a focus of the investigation. The NTSB plans to release a preliminary report in about a month. However, Chapman noted that it will likely take more than a year to determine the probable cause of the crash.