US3 min(s) read
Newly released 911 audio reveals chilling words said immediately after fatal Florida Learjet crash
.webp_lli6Ty?tr=cr-74.9.445.380,f-webp,q-70,w-100)
Audio of the 911 calls made by onlookers after a Learjet 60 tragically plummeted to the ground in Florida has been released.
As previously reported, on November 1 nine people aboard a Learjet 60 were killed when the plane crashed after plunging at a rate of over 22,000 feet per minute.
The horrific incident was captured on dashcam footage by passing motorists, with the private jet being seen smashing into the ground near a mobile home community, bursting into a giant fireball and leaving behind little more than a crater.
Those on board were named as pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, and passengers Adam Robinson, 44, who was a multimillionaire tech exec, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children - Emma, four, and Charlie, two - and their nanny, Anita Maria Apellido, as well as their friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
After the crash and resulting explosion, several local residents called 911 to report the incident, with some even fearing it was a missile rather than a plane.
One distressed caller was heard saying: "I think an airplane fell or something. There was an explosion."
The dispatcher asked: "Do you think maybe it was a lightning strike?", to which the caller responded: "We don't know."
The caller added: "It shook our house and everything which is why I was worried about it."
Another witness was heard telling 911: "We need, I think, police because I think a bomb just landed."
Others added, per NBC6: "I think an airplane, a rocket, something fell from the sky. We felt our house shake, and then we heard an explosion when we ran outside."
Another told the dispatcher: "It is a really big explosion. It's around the trailer homes that are built here."
Earlier, audio of the communication between the plane and Air Traffic Control had been released, in which Filgueiras can be heard describing the final seconds before the plane hit the ground in Greenacres.
The audio, posted on LiveATC, a site that broadcasts real-time air traffic control communications, saw Filgueiras calmly telling ATC that the jet was experiencing moderate turbulence and icing, and requesting permission to ascend higher.
Seconds later, she issued a mayday call as the plane began to fall, saying: "We're descending 8,000 - mayday, mayday - we're descending 10,000 feet per minute."
Then, she added: "We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute."
Filgueiras's scream could be heard before she said to the Captain Gregory: "Look outside, Jeff!
"Holy f***, we're out of time."
After this, ATC asked them "how do you hear?", but there was no response from the jet.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway as crews work to recover parts of the aircraft from the crater.