Florida crash jet ‘had tail ripped off after flying into storm’, professional fears
A former pilot believes the Learjet 60 private jet may have been crippled by a storm when it plunged to the ground on Sunday, killing all nine people on board
Nine were killed in the crash(Image: Israel Walden / @prolific369)
The private jet that crashed in Florida leaving nine dead may have flown directly into a storm and had its tail ripped off mid air, an aviation expert fears.
The Learjet 60 plummeted 25,00ft in just over a minute before slamming into a residential neighbourhood near Donald Trump’s Mar-a-largo estate. on Sunday afternoon.
Horrific footage shows the moment the plane burst into a fireball in Greenacres, Palm Beach County, as chilling audio revealed the terrified pilot screaming “holy f**k, we’re out of time,” seconds earlier.
Terry Tozer, an ex airline pilot with over 20 years in the aviation industry, fears the plane went through a deadly trio of circumstances which sparked the disaster.
The jet crashed close to a residential street(Image: Aki Kuusisto via Storyful / AP)
He told The Sun the most likely cause was poor weather with heavy rain and thunderstorms moving through Palm Beach County at the time which he believes made flying the aircraft to safety near impossible.
He said: “I think it was weather related. You would normally make strenuous efforts to go round a thunderstorm. In thunderstorms you can get severe icing, severe turbulence and both of those are potentially hazardous. It would appear that the storm cell they entered was developing very rapidly and it looks as if it caught them out.
“So if they accrued an awful lot of ice on the airframe, that may have affected the handling of the aircraft.”
Released airline logs show the pilot requested permission to climb to 37,000 feet to avoid flying through the storm, believing the jet could handle the weather in front of her at the time.
Emergency services attended the scene(Image: AP Photo/Mark Elias)
She told air traffic controllers: “We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence.”
It is then believed she attempted to make her way through the tough conditions in poor visibility, but the lack of control could have caused the aircraft to travel at speeds so fast it caused part of the tail to break apart.
Chilling audio recorded in the cockpit just moments before the plane nosedived straight to the ground saw the female pilot shouting: “We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000ft per minute.
“We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000ft per minute.
“We’re going to crash into the ground. Holy f**k we’re out of time.”
The crash happened in Florida(Image: Getty Images)
Terry, who has looked into plane crashes since he retired, continued: “Whether it suffered structural damage before or after the rapid descent, we don’t know but it is possible to exceed the design speed of an aircraft and damage it structurally.
“The video recording showing the aircraft actually just before the impact appears to have the tail missing. So it looks like an in-flight breakup of the aircraft.
“There is quite a bit of good audio and radar and visual indication that supports this idea.”
Terry fears the exact cause of the crash could still take some time to confirm due to the severity of the accident.
The small plane is believed to have struggled in a storm(Image: Israel Walden / @prolific369)
He added: “Effectively the plane was like a missile as it came towards the ground and it’s entirely possible that the data recorders will not be recoverable or at least the data in them will not be recoverable.”
