The aircraft, a Learjet 60 model, plummeted at high speed over an urban area and exploded in a massive fireball just a few kilometres from Mar-a-Lago, the holiday residence of US President Donald Trump. Federal and local authorities have confirmed that all nine people in the cabin have died in the incident, which occurred near Cresthaven, less than 11 kilometres from the presidential property, at the intersection of Military Trail and 10th Avenue North.
The private aircraft had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, heading to the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Upon impact, the plane created a deep crater in flames on the asphalt near a busy road, grazing several homes and vehicles in motion without any injuries reported on the ground so far. Regarding the incident, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated in an official release: "The plane crash today in Palm Beach County, Florida, is a tragedy." Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Texas airport, Jim Reynolds, remarked that "It is undoubtedly a tragedy."
The accident occurred on a day marked by the presence of Donald Trump in the area. Just an hour before the jet's fall, the US president had taken off on Air Force One from the newly renamed Donald J. Trump International Airport, amid reports of storms in the area. Various videos recorded from vehicles and shared on social media captured the terrifying moment when the plane fell almost vertically before exploding. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the crash site and told the media: "This is obviously a catastrophic air accident." Describing the aircraft's trajectory, the state leader added: "It looked like a missile falling."
Initial clues about the sequence of the accident come from an audio recording released on the specialised portal liveatc.net. In the tape, a crew member is heard reporting to controllers that they were passing through an area with "moderate turbulence" and were "entering a precipitation zone," requesting permission to "climb." Moments later, after initiating an uncontrolled rapid descent, the pilot issued the distress call "mayday, mayday" before exclaiming "We're going to crash to the ground," at which point the transmission abruptly ended.
Security forces and emergency services cordoned off the impact area, engulfed in thick black smoke with flames flickering among the pavement fragments. The identities of the occupants have not been immediately revealed by US authorities, while technical teams work on-site to clarify the causes of the loss of control.
In an official statement, the aviation regulatory body specified that "The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate" the disaster to determine the meteorological and technical factors that triggered the tragedy in Palm Beach.