Haunting audio captures pilot’s final words before jet crashed into ground killing nine
Warning: This article contains content which some readers may find distressing
The final conversation between those in the cockpit of the doomed Learjet 60 and air traffic control showed how complaints of moderate turbulence were followed by a desperate mayday call as the plane rapidly lost altitude.
Nine people onboard the private plane were killed on Sunday (1 November) after it nose-dived, smashed into the ground and erupted into a fireball in Palm Beach County, Florida.
In the final frantic moments before impact, a crew member on the plane was heard issuing a mayday call.
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According to air traffic control recordings from LiveATC.com reviewed by CNN, she initially reported on 'manageable' ice on the plane and 'moderate turbulence', with an outside air temperature of -47C.
But the tone of the conversation then changed dramatically around two hours into the doomed flight.
The crew member said: "We're descending 8,000. Mayday, mayday! We're descending 10,000 feet per minute. Declaring emergency 722 Bravo Delta. We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute...We're going to crash into the ground."
The air traffic controller then listened helplessly as the pilot declared, 'We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees,' before letting out a horrifying scream and chillingly adding: "Look outside. Holy f**k, we're out of time."
All those who were travelling on the business jet from Austin, Texas, bound for the Bahamas are dead, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the wake of the 'horrific tragedy'.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis described the deadly incident as 'cataclysmic' and compared the crash to 'a missile going down', explaining the impact has left a 'big crater on the side of the road'.
Authorities are now working to determine what went wrong after the aircraft departed from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas - and the pilot's last communication with air traffic control provides some clues.
The plane was heading east at 35,000ft. After requesting to climb 2,000ft, the plane then suddenly entered a steep dive - first 10,000ft per minute, then 20,000ft per minute and up to 30,000ft per minute, speeding the plane beyond its design limits.
Shocking dashcam footage recorded the moment that the Learjet 60 collided with the ground. It appeared to just miss a number of residential properties by mere metres.
Jim Reynolds, a spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, said the plane involved was a private aircraft.
One resident, who claimed he was just 500ft from the crash site at the moment of impact, described the devastation that he witnessed.
Anthony Blackmon told NBC Miami: "Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire. The road was on fire. I’ve always seen it on the news, never thought it would happen so close to somebody like how it happened today."
Another local, Roger Forcelle, explained that he felt the force of the aircraft as it flew over his home.
"It shook the whole house," he said. "It went right over us and crashed probably less than half a mile from where I live. Everybody came out of their houses because you could feel it shaking."
Local officials said on Sunday they were evacuating around 600 residents from a trailer home community near the crash zone.
Meanwhile, Palm Beach County said that Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alemeda Drive would be closed until further notice, with only emergency vehicles allowed through.
The victims of the crash have not yet been publicly identified. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the tragedy.
Olivia Burke