All Nine Aboard Killed as Learjet 60 Crashes Near Greenacres, Florida; NTSB Sends Go-Team

A Learjet 60 that tracking and registry data identify as N722BD crashed along Military Trail near Greenacres, Florida, around 12:50 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, and all nine people aboard were killed, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. The FAA says the jet left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

The NTSB leads the investigation with FAA support, and it said on X it is launching a go-team, with a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday. No cause has been established, and the statements we read as of Sunday evening do not name those aboard.

What officials have said

Gov. Ron DeSantis called the crash “cataclysmic,” saying the aircraft looked “like a missile going down” and left a large crater along Military Trail, WPTV reported.

Accounts of the ground toll differ slightly. CBS Miami reports DeSantis told reporters that no one on the ground was injured, while WPTV reports officials saying they had no reports, at the time of the news conference, of anyone on the ground killed or hurt.

County officials said about 600 people in a nearby mobile home community were expected to move to two shelters because the site is being treated as a crime scene during the investigation, WPTV reported. No official statement we read alleges that a crime took place.

The county has closed Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane until further notice, to all but emergency vehicles.

Greenacres, Lake Worth Beach or Cresthaven?

The FAA says “near Cresthaven,” the NTSB says Lake Worth Beach, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office gives Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North. The Palm Beach Post describes an unincorporated area near Greenacres and the village of Palm Springs.

CNN puts the site about four miles south of the West Palm Beach airport, which explains the “West Palm Beach” in some headlines.

Reports differ on the mobile homes. The Post says the jet came down in a mobile home neighborhood, while NBC 6, citing the Associated Press, says it appeared to narrowly miss homes and that any damage was unclear.

We found no official statement saying a home was struck.

How the jet is identified

No official statement we read gives the tail number. Flightradar24 lists N722BD leaving Austin at 15:37 UTC on November 1 for North Eleuthera, the route the FAA gives.

The FAA registry lists N722BD as a Learjet 60, serial number 271, owned by LR60271 LLC of Wilmington, Delaware, and CBS12 reports the crashed jet was registered to that company.

A registry entry shows the owner, not who operated this flight. CNN says the jet is listed online as available for charter, and we found no statement naming the operator.

What the radio calls and tracking data show

CNN reported the crew’s radio calls from a recording captured by LiveATC.net. Minutes before the crash, the pilot told Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center, “We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” and reported an outside air temperature of -47 degrees Celsius.

After reporting precipitation and asking to climb, the pilot declared a mayday and said, “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” according to CNN. We have not reviewed the recording ourselves, and the NTSB’s post so far does not address it.

CNN also says ADS-B Exchange data shows a descent of 27,000 feet over about one minute before tracking cut off. Preliminary data like this is neither a measured impact speed nor an explanation.

Overspeed refers to the limit in FAA certification rules for transport-category aircraft, a maximum operating speed that may not be deliberately exceeded in climb, cruise or descent. A crew’s report of it describes what the aircraft was doing, not why.

Weather and rumors: what is not established

CNN says scattered storms were in the area and the jet passed through a stronger cell a few minutes before it began descending, adding that it is unclear whether the storm played a part.

Dewitt Ingram, a Learjet-rated captain and aviation consultant, raised storm damage as a possibility in an interview with CBS12. That is his hypothesis, and CBS12 notes that neither weather damage nor an in-flight breakup has been established.

President Trump left the West Palm Beach airport a little more than an hour before the crash, CNN reported, and the Post says social media posts speculated the jet was shot down. The Post notes that flight restrictions for his visits have never led to a plane being shot down in the county, and no official statement we read supports the rumor.

The aircraft and the investigation ahead

The Learjet 60 family is a mid-size business jet certified by the FAA in January 1993, with two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW305A turbofans. Sunday’s crash is the second deadliest in the U.S. this year in NTSB records, CNN reported, after a June skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, that killed 12.

A go-team is the group of NTSB investigators who travel to an accident site. The agency says it does not investigate criminal activity, its aim is probable cause, and it tries to finish an investigation within 12 to 24 months.