Learjet May Have Started to Break Up Before Crash

Parts of a business jet likely started to break off even before it slammed into the ground and erupted in a ball of flames in South Florida, killing all nine people on board, a federal investigator said Monday. Video recorded by passersby captured the Bahamas-bound Learjet's rapid nosedive Sunday afternoon before it exploded in Greenacres, about 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach, the AP reports. "We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact," National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said during a news conference Monday. "We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site."

• Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said key components of the jet's tail may have been lost during the turbulence or as it nosedived. "If that happens, you cannot control an airplane at that point. And that very well could explain the missile-like profile just before it hit the ground," said Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator.
• Weather conditions will be a major focus of the investigation, Chapman said. Rain pounded the region on Sunday, and one of the pilots reported icing conditions at a high altitude in communications with air traffic control.
• Chapman said that before a distressing mayday call, one of the two crew members reported "manageable" ice and "moderate turbulence" and requested permission to climb, which was granted, NBC News reports. "Less than 30 seconds later, a transmission from the airplane announced a descent, followed by a mayday call," he said. "About 12:48 Eastern, the airplane transmitted, 'We are in an over-speed condition, descending,' with the rest unintelligible. Subsequent communications described that the airplane was descending rapidly and gave an altitude callout. Sadly, all aboard were lost."

• Weather radar maps from the time of the crash that FlightRadar24 combined with the plane's flight path seem to show it flying directly into a storm cell that was rapidly expanding upward. But Chapman said investigators still have to determine what the weather conditions were at 35,000 feet. Chapman said the plane was originally equipped with a cockpit voice recorder that investigators hope to recover.
• The jet began its journey at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas with two crew and seven passengers, Chapman said. Authorities have not released the names of the people who died. Camila Corteleti said her daughter, 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was one of the pilots.