Latest / GNN Daily Breaking News / Investigators say Learjet may have broken up before crashing in Florida

Transcript

Investigators say Learjet may have broken up before crashing in Florida · GNN Daily Breaking News

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have revealed
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: that a Learjet 60 carrying nine people may have begun
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: breaking apart in midair before plunging into a Florida roadway
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and exploding upon impact. The aircraft, which was en route
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, crashed in Palm Beach County,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: leaving behind a massive, water-filled crater, and a widespread field
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of debris that scattered across local neighborhoods, sports fields, and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: commercial properties. According to preliminary accounts of Air Traffic Control Communications,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the flight crew encountered severe atmospheric conditions while cruising at 35,000 feet.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: The pilots reported light icing and moderate turbulence, requesting a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: climb to 37,000 feet to escape the weather. Air traffic
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: controllers approved the altitude change, but less than 30 seconds later,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the crew transmitted that the aircraft was entering an uncontrolled descent,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: quickly followed by a mayday call. Flight tracking data and
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: cockpit audio indicate that the plane entered a rapid overspeed condition,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: descending at catastrophic rates between 10,000 and 22,000 feet per minute.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: During the sudden drop, extreme physical forces may have compromised
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the structural integrity of the airframe, causing parts of the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: jet to separate prior to final ground contact. Investigators have
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: urged local residents not to disturb any wreckage found in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the surrounding area as recovery teams work to gather components
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: scattered beyond the main crash site. A multidisciplinary team of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: 20 federal specialists is currently analyzing aircraft systems and flight
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: controller recordings, meteorology logs, and maintenance records to determine weather icing,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: extreme turbulence, mechanical failure, or aerodynamic stress initiated the fatal sequence.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: While recovery operations continue in the water-filled impact zone, federal
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: safety officials maintain that establishing the precise timeline of the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: structural breakup remains a central focus of the ongoing investigation.