Business jet crashes near Trump's Florida residence
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Sunday that a business jet crashed in a residential area of Florida. All nine people on board were killed.
In the audio recording of the radio traffic with air traffic control, one of the crew members is heard reporting moderate turbulence. After that, the airliner quickly began losing altitude and struck the ground in a nearly vertical position. The Governor of Florida likened the crash to a missile strike.
The plane crash occurred at 12:50 p.m. North American Eastern Time (21:50 Tashkent time) near Cresthaven — a location 14 km away from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the aircraft had taken off from Austin, Texas, and was bound for the Bahamas.
Secretary Duffy called the incident a "terrible tragedy" and said the FAA was sending a team of experts to the crash site to assist with the investigation being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
"These are horrible images," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters. "It was like a missile coming down: a huge explosion and debris scattered everywhere."
Flight analysis shows that before the crash, the airliner descended rapidly — at a rate of hundreds of feet per second.
In the recording of the conversation with air traffic control shortly before the crash, one of the crew members is heard reporting that "moderate turbulence" had occurred and that "it got cold inside." Then the person says the plane is "entering precipitation" and that they "need to climb."
Shortly after, the same voice reported that the aircraft was descending at a rate of 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) per minute.
The crew member declared an emergency and shouted: "We have exceeded the allowable speed, we are descending at 20,000 feet per minute." He then added: "We are going to hit the ground now."