Federal investigators are scheduled to provide an update Monday on the crash of a Bahamas-bound plane that went down in a South Florida neighborhood Sunday, killing all nine people on board.
National Transportation Safety Board officials are expected to hold a news conference at 1 p.m. in West Palm Beach, roughly 24 hours after a Learjet 60 crashed at the entrance of a mobile home park.
The plane was traveling from Austin to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Authorities have not publicly identified those aboard.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), during a Sunday news briefing, called the crash a “cataclysmic” accident. No one on the ground was injured.
“It looked like a missile going down,” DeSantis said. “It left a big crater on the side of the road.”
Authorities have not determined the cause. The NTSB investigation could take months or longer.
Shortly before the crash, which occurred around 12:50 p.m., a pilot reported rain, ice and moderate turbulence and then declared Mayday, according to archived radio communications.
Thunderstorms were scattered across South Florida on Sunday as the plane crossed the peninsula from west to east. Around 12:36 p.m., an air traffic controller authorized the crew to “deviate left and right,” according to archived radio communications.
At that time, a developing thunderstorm near Palm Beach was about 33,000 feet tall. Within 20 minutes, it grew to 48,300 feet as powerful winds pushed air upward. The plane flew into the storm around 12:47 p.m. at an altitude of 35,000 feet.
While water droplets are typically frozen at that altitude, a rapidly growing thunderstorm can push liquid droplets upward so quickly that they can hit an aircraft before freezing, potentially causing ice to build up rapidly.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator at the FAA and the NTSB, suspects turbulence may have played a greater role than icing in destabilizing the plane. He said the storm’s powerful updrafts and downdrafts could have knocked the plane out of its normal flight path, causing the rapid descent.
“To me, it has the earmarks of a weather-induced upset event,” Guzzetti said.
Joel Flores, a Palm Beach County commissioner, said Sunday that about 600 people who live in the mobile home park were being evacuated to nearby shelters.
It was not immediately clear how many residents remained displaced Monday or when they could return.
A spokesperson for Florida Power and Light said crews were prepared to restore power to affected customers but could not access the area because of the investigation. The utility provider said it had no estimate for when service would be restored. It was not immediately clear how many customers remained without power.
Matthew Cappucci and Liam Scott contributed to this report.
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