Investigators have recovered the tail section of a Learjet that crashed in Greenacres, Florida, miles from the main impact site, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Officials are examining the possibility that key aircraft components detached before the plane nosedived into the ground.
NTSB member Tom Chapman stated that part of the plane's tail elevator was found between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the crater where the Learjet initially struck. Chapman indicated that investigators are working to determine if this separation caused the crash or was a result of the strain on the aircraft during its descent.
The fiery crash occurred on Sunday near West Palm Beach, eight miles from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. However, Chapman confirmed there is no evidence linking the disaster to the no-fly zone and increased air defense systems recently deployed around Mar-a-Lago due to a "heightened threat environment." He described the timing as "entirely coincidental."
Investigators previously identified severe weather as a significant factor in the crash. The co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, reported to air traffic control that ice was accumulating on the aircraft and that it was experiencing severe turbulence, causing drastic altitude changes. She also reported the plane had banked 60 degrees.
In its final transmissions, Filgueiras could be heard saying, "We're going to die!" before the jet impacted the ground. Pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, was reportedly reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background. The pilots had requested to gain 2,000 feet of elevation when they encountered a thunderstorm shortly before the aircraft began to spiral. Aviation experts have suggested the plane might have entered a "coffin corner," a flight condition where the aircraft is near a stall or overspeed condition at high altitudes.
The Learjet 60 was en route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it crashed. Among the passengers were tech tycoon Adam Robinson, 45, his wife Helen Sharp, 40, their two young children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two, Robinson's friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and the children's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina. All eight people on board, including the two pilots, perished in the crash.