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Federal investigators have recovered part of an engine from the Learjet that crashed Sunday in Greenacres, Florida, killing all nine people on board.
Crews began excavating the site Wednesday, after utility workers drained the water and removed other hazards, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. The Learjet 60 left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport around 10:37 a.m. Sunday, bound for North Eleuthera Airport, Bahamas. Shortly before 1 p.m., it plunged into Palm Beach County, killing everyone on board.
Once the search began, investigators discovered part of an engine, officials said, noting that debris also appeared on the roofs of nearby homes and buildings.
Earlier in the week, investigators found the left elevator, which controls the jet’s tilt, in three separate pieces, one of them nearly four miles from where the Learjet 60 crashed.
Private jet with 9 people on board crashes a few kilometers from Mar-A-Lago
Adam Robinson and his wife Helen Sharp were traveling with their two young children when the Learjet carrying them from Texas to the Bahamas crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on November 1. (Fox News)
National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas B. Chapman called the piece “very important evidence” when he spoke to reporters Tuesday.
“Even small pieces of the wreckage may contain important evidence that could help investigators determine what happened,” the agency wrote on social media.
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A Learjet 60 slammed into a South Florida neighborhood Sunday afternoon, causing a massive fireball just nine miles from Mar-a-Lago. (Aki Kuusisto via Storyful)
At about 41,000 feet, an air traffic controller informed the flight crew that moderate precipitation was five miles away and indicated that they could divert left or right, noting that the turn to Freeport in the Bahamas “is looking pretty bad.”
INVESTIGATORS FOCUS ON POSSIBLE CAUSE OF WISCONSIN PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED 6 PEOPLE
A map shows the Learjet flying from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas to the Bahamas before crashing in Greenacres, Florida. (Fox News)
The crew was then ordered to head to a waypoint near Naples, Florida.
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Shortly thereafter, after diverting to Palm Beach County, the flight crew indicated that weather conditions were deteriorating, reporting to air traffic control that there was icing and turbulence, asking the controller if there was a “better flight” coming up.
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Investigators work the scene of a plane crash in Greenacres, Florida, Monday, November 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Heavy rain and thunderstorms were sweeping across South Florida when the Learjet crashed, and federal investigators say the weather will be a focus of their investigation.
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Austin tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, was killed in the crash alongside his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and couple Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
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Co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, left, and Captain Jeffrey Scott Gregory, 55, right, were the two pilots aboard the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on November 1, 2026. (Threads/@itsnatfilg; Facebook/JeffnCheryl Corbin-Gregory)
The plane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, but investigators have not found it and cannot yet confirm he was on board when the plane crashed, NTSB officials said.
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