Tail pieces found 3.8 miles from Learjet crash site

Pieces of a Learjet 60 were discovered up to 3.8 miles from the crash site near Greenacres, Florida, on Tuesday. National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman confirmed the wreckage was found between 1.3 miles and 3.8 miles from where the plane struck the ground on Sunday afternoon. The scattered debris included three separate fragments of the left elevator, a critical tail component that controls the aircraft's pitch. Chapman stated that the distance between the pieces and the impact point confirms the jet was breaking apart before it hit the earth.

The loss of the elevator meant the pilot could not pull the aircraft out of its steep descent. Chapman noted that while the elevator might not have been effective at those speeds even if it had remained attached, its absence is a key piece of evidence for the investigation. He explained that the team is still determining whether the loss caused the control issue or resulted from the forces acting on the plane during the fall. The initial focus of the inquiry will remain on weather conditions, specifically a rapidly developing thunderstorm cell that the jet entered.

The crash killed all nine people aboard. The aircraft was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it went down. Among the victims were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children. The family's nanny, Ana María Ramírez Cetina, was also killed. The Colombian government announced it was providing assistance to her family. Her sister, Angie Alejandra Ramírez, said she spoke to Cetina minutes before boarding. Ramírez said she had sent a photo and video of her own baby, expecting a reply after landing. Cetina, a biomedical engineer who moved to the United States in January to work as a nanny, had been with the Robinson family for about ten months.

Jeff Gregory, the 55-year-old captain, lived in the Philadelphia suburbs. He was a longtime aviator and a devout Christian. Friends believe his voice was heard reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background of the co-pilot's final radio transmissions as the plane fell. Thomas Noetzel, director of operations at Upper Jets, which operated the flight, started a fundraiser for Gregory's wife and children. Noetzel described Gregory as a close friend and noted that Gregory, one of his children, and his daughter-in-law were graduates of Bob Jones University in South Carolina.

Co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras texted her boyfriend about ten minutes before the crash. She reported having turbulence and ice on board. In the final two minutes of the flight, her radio calls shifted from calm updates to urgent warnings. She told air traffic controllers that ice was accumulating and that turbulence had moved the plane vertically by more than 700 feet. The jet descended at a rate exceeding 20,000 feet per minute. Filgueiras said the plane was going to crash into the ground before the transmission cut off with the words that they were out of time.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press that the broken tail parts were likely a result of the nosedive rather than the cause. He pointed out that the debris landing within a few miles of the site suggests the pieces fell off closer to the ground. If they had broken off at higher altitudes, they would have traveled much farther. Former NTSB member John Goglia analyzed flight tracking data and suggested the plane leveled off briefly at 8,000 feet for about eight seconds. He believes the captain pulled up sharply, overstressing the tail and tearing the horizontal stabilizer from the aircraft.

The impact created a crater and burst the jet into flames. About 600 nearby residents remain displaced, while one person on the ground was reported injured. Investigators have been searching the area for wreckage and collecting dashcam video. After days of heavy rain, the team plans to access the crater on Wednesday. They expect to find critical components during that inspection. A preliminary report is expected in about a month, but determining the probable cause will likely take more than a year.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella posted on social media about Cetina's death. He wrote that her premature departure filled them with sadness. The family in Colombia is receiving support from their government. The co-pilot's texts about ice and turbulence provide additional data for the investigators. Experts noted that while texting is not strictly prohibited at cruise altitude for charter jets, it is banned during critical phases of commercial flights. The NTSB will continue to gather evidence from the site and the cockpit recorder.