NTSB recovers three Learjet elevator pieces 1.3 to 3.8 miles from crash site

Pieces of left elevator separated before impact; investigators weigh loss contribution against aircraft forces

Federal investigators recovered three pieces of the Learjet 60’s left elevator between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the site of the incident in Palm Beach County, National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas Chapman said Tuesday. The elevator sits on the aircraft’s tail and controls its up-and-down pitch. Pieces of the tail recovered miles from the impact site indicate that part of the aircraft separated before the jet hit the ground.

“Certainly it tells us that at least some components—some pieces of the aircraft, important pieces of the aircraft—separated before the impact,” Chapman said during a press briefing. “What that means exactly in terms of what caused the aircraft to lose control, or whether the loss of this piece was a result of the forces on the aircraft, we don’t know yet.”

The fact that the plane’s elevator was lost before impact opens two possibilities for investigation: “whether a piece like that was lost may have contributed to the crash itself, or whether the forces on the aircraft caused that to separate,” Chapman said. Investigators have not established which explanation applies.

Weather conditions are a major focus of the investigation, federal authorities said. As the plane flew over Florida’s east coast, a thunderstorm was growing in intensity. One of the plane’s pilots told air-traffic control the crew was managing ice and turbulence before declaring an emergency.

The Learjet 60 took off from Austin, Texas, for Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas and crashed into a thoroughfare in Palm Beach County on Sunday, killing all nine people on board and injuring a nearby driver. Footage of the incident showed the jet nosediving into a road and exploding into a ball of fire, and the impact left a large crater in the road.

Those lost were Captain Jeff Gregory and co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, along with seven passengers: tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their two young children, their caretaker Anita Maria Cetina, and family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.

Investigators expect to find more important parts of the aircraft for the investigation in the crater, where officials plan to remove water pooled in the area. “It’s going to be a lot of work,” Chapman said.

The recovered pieces established that important aircraft components separated before impact. The open questions are whether the elevator’s loss may have contributed to the crash itself or whether forces on the aircraft caused the pieces to separate, and weather conditions remain a major focus of the investigation.