Nine dead in “cataclysmic” business plane crash in Florida | Aviation news

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters there appeared to be no casualties on the ground.

Nine people have died after a business jet crashed into a residential area in South Florida, United States.

All passengers were killed in the crash, which U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called a “terrible tragedy” in an article on X on Sunday.

Federal Aviation Administration personnel were traveling to the crash site to support a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the incident, Duffy said.

Disturbing recordings in the plane’s cockpit shortly before the crash, preserved by LiveATC.net, showed the pilot speaking of “manageable” ice problems, before later saying the plane was rapidly losing altitude.

Shortly after, the panicked crew declared, “We’re going to crash into the ground.”

The plane was a Learjet 60 – a popular business jet – flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport confirmed it was a private plane, but did not say who was on board.

Videos of the incident circulating online appear to show the plane hitting the ground at high speed and at an acute angle, followed by a huge explosion.

Images of the aftermath appear to show flames flickering around debris and pieces of pavement, with people crowding the area.

The plane appeared to have come down just a few feet from homes and cars, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters there appeared to be no casualties on the ground.

Speaking from the scene, DeSantis called the crash “cataclysmic” and said the plane “looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”