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Distressing audio reveals final four words of crew on board jet that crashed in Florida killing everyone on board
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Air traffic control recordings have surfaced capturing the final moments inside the cockpit of the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County on Sunday, and what the crew said in the last 35 seconds of the flight is difficult to listen to.
The audio, posted on LiveATC, a site that broadcasts real-time air traffic control communications, reveals a crew that went from calmly managing icing conditions to declaring a mayday and plunging toward the ground at 22,000 feet per minute in less than a minute.
All nine people on board were killed.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the death toll on Sunday evening, calling the crash a 'horrific tragedy'.
The aircraft had departed Austin, Texas, and was en route to the Bahamas.
The cockpit audio
The recording begins routinely.
A crew member contacted the Miami air traffic control center and reported that the aircraft was 'managing the ice' but encountering 'moderate' turbulence.
They asked for 'better rides', a standard request for clearance to change altitude to find smoother air.
What followed was anything but routine.
The crew declared an emergency.
The pilot's voice, increasingly urgent, reported the aircraft was descending rapidly and completely out of control.
"We're descending 8,000 - mayday, mayday - we're descending 10,000 feet per minute."
Seconds later, the rate of descent had doubled.
"We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute."
Then came the exchange that has been shared millions of times since the audio was released.
One crew member turned to the other, identified only as 'Jack'.
"Look outside, Jack..."
"Holy f***, we're out of time."
The final transmission, delivered rapidly and with audible resignation, was addressed to the controller using the aircraft's call sign.
"We're going to crash into the ground, 722 Bravo Delta."
The recording goes silent. Approximately 35 seconds had passed between the first mayday call and the last words anyone on board ever spoke.
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
What caused the crash?
The investigation is in its earliest stages, but the cockpit audio provides the first significant clues.
The crew reported icing before the emergency began.
Icing occurs when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with an aircraft's wings, tail, and engine inlets.
On smaller jets like the Learjet 60, severe icing can degrade lift, increase drag, and in extreme cases cause a loss of control within seconds.
The reported overspeed condition, where the aircraft exceeds its maximum safe airspeed, combined with a descent rate that reached 22,000 feet per minute, suggests the crew lost the ability to control the aircraft's pitch and speed at altitude.
Whether that was caused by the icing, a mechanical failure, or a combination of factors is what the NTSB will be trying to determine.
The aircraft's final descent was captured on dashcam footage that has since gone viral.
The video, credited to Aki Kuusisto, shows the jet slamming into the ground on Military Trail in Greenacres and producing an enormous fireball that fills the entire frame.
What happened on the ground?
The Learjet struck a tree and brought down power lines before crashing near the entrance to a mobile home park.
At least one trailer was destroyed. A burst water pipe flooded the crater left by the impact. Power outages were reported across the surrounding area.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores described a 'massive crater' at the crash site.
Approximately 600 people were evacuated from the nearby mobile home community as a precaution.
No one on the ground was killed, according to current reports. All nine fatalities were on board the aircraft.
Who was on the plane?
The identities of the nine people have not been released.
FAA records list the aircraft's owner as a Delaware-registered corporation. The flight originated in Austin, Texas, and was headed to the Bahamas.
It is not known how many of the nine were crew and how many were passengers.
Canada-based Bombardier, which manufactured the Learjet 60, said it would 'fully support the investigation and cooperate as needed'.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, if recovered intact from the wreckage, will provide a more complete picture of what happened in the final minutes of the flight.