Warning: This article contains content which some readers may find distressing
Distressing audio captured the final conversation that took place between those in the cockpit of the doomed Learjet 60 and air traffic control.
Nine people onboard the private plane were killed on Sunday (1 November) after it nose-dived, smashed into the ground and erupted into a fireball in Palm Beach County, Florida.
In the final frantic moments before impact, the pilot was heard issuing a mayday call before letting out a chilling scream as she warned: “Holy f**k, we’re out of time.”
All those who were travelling on the business jet bound for the Bahamas are dead, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in wake of the ‘horrific tragedy’.
Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, described the deadly incident as ‘cataclysmic’ and compared the crash to ‘a missile going down’, explaining the impact has left a ‘big crater on the side of the road’.
Witnesses said the ‘road was on fire’ after the devastating plane crash on Sunday (Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Authorities are now working to determine what went wrong after the aircraft departed from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas – and the pilot’s last communication with air traffic control provides some clues.
The plane was heading east at 35,000ft when those in the cockpit began complaining that they were experiencing turbulence, icing and precipitation.
After requesting to climb 2,000ft, the plane then suddenly entered a steep dive – first 10,000ft per minute, then 20,000ft per minute and up to 30,000ft per minute, speeding the plane beyond its design limits.
Shocking dashcam footage recorded the moment that the Learjet 60 collided with the ground. It appeared to just miss a number of residential properties by mere metres.
According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net, the pilot initially told those on the ground the issues they were dealing with were ‘manageable’.
‘We’re going to crash’
However, it appears that the conditions became drastically worse in a matter of moments, as the pilot then promptly declared an emergency situation was unfolding.
In the audio, she can be heard saying: “We’re descending 8,000. Mayday, mayday! We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute. Declaring emergency 722 Bravo Delta. We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute…We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The air traffic controller then listened helplessly as the pilot declared, ‘We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees,’ before letting out a horrifying scream and adding: “Look outside.”
Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, said the plane involved was a private aircraft.
The pilot of the Learjet 60 issued a distress call shortly before it smashed into the street (X)
One resident, who claimed he was just 500ft from the crash site at the moment of impact, described the devastation that he witnessed.
Anthony Blackmon told NBC Miami: “Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire. I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today.”
Another local, Roger Forcelle, explained that he felt the force of the aircraft as it flew over his home.
“It shook the whole house,” he said. “It went right over us and crashed probably less than half a mile from where I live. Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking.”
The victims of the crash have not yet been publicly identified. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the tragedy.
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