US3 min(s) read
Learjet crash investigators recover cockpit voice recorder 'to reveal pilot's very last words'
.jpg_xKEaT0?tr=cr-0.328.2730.3058,f-webp,q-70,w-100)
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has provided a massive update in the Learjet 60 crash investigation.
On November 1, the Bahamas-bound private jet was flying over Florida after taking off from Austin, Texas.
The aircraft was flying at 35,000 ft before plummeting to the ground in just 76 seconds and bursting into a ball of flames.
All nine on board lost their lives, with those on board including entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44, his wife Helen Sharp, their four-year-old daughter Emma, and their two-year-old son Charlie.
The family was traveling with their nanny, Anita Maria Apellido Cetina, and two close friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
Recorded audio between crew members, 55-year-old captain Jeff Gregory and 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was also made public.
It also revealed that Air Traffic Control (ATC) warned them about weather conditions, but the NTSB has now announced it has recovered the cockpit voice recorder.
NTSB reveals details of cockpit voice recorder recovery
The NTSB previously shared that it recovered most of the Learjet 60's left elevator in three pieces, scattered up to 3.8 miles from the crash site, its biggest discovery before the latest update.
"We expect to find critical airplane components within the crater," National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Chapman said previously.
Speaking on Monday (November 9), they revealed that they located the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which could help explain what happened in the jet's final minutes.
They said in a statement on X: "NTSB investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 60 that crashed on Nov. 1 near Greenacres, Florida,
"The CVR was located at the site of initial impact. The CVR is being evaluated in the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, D.C. The excavation work at the impact site has been completed."
The initial impact site is where the plane hit the ground and made a massive crater on a Palm Beach County highway.
In announcing that the excavation was complete, the NTSB marked a major milestone in its investigation, though many await further information.
No details from the device have been made public, but the recording could reveal if the crew recognized an issue, whether they tried to correct it, or if they received warnings before the jet nosedived to its death.
Prior to the recovery of the CVR, the NTSB focused on finding wreckage from the site and searching for the aircraft’s black box systems.
Investigators of Learjet crash complete searches
In its statement, the NTSB outlined the locations where investigators had completed their searches.
"The cleared areas include Green Acres Mobile Home Community, Reading Truck, Silver Oaks Plaza, Value Store It Self Storage and John I. Leonard High School," it said.
The agency also provided an update on the aircraft wreckage recovered so far, revealing that investigators had identified components from across the jet, which include parts of both wings, both engines, the flight deck, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, the left elevator, sections of the ailerons and several flap track assemblies.
Some of the recovered components have now been taken to NTSB laboratories in Washington, DC, for "closer inspection,” with the agency having also renewed its appeal to members of the public who may come across debris from the crash.
Anyone who discovers potential wreckage has been urged not to move, tamper with, or dispose of it, but instead contact investigators so they can arrange to recover the material.