Federal investigators are examining whether weather played a role in the crash of a Bahamas-bound Learjet that went down in a South Florida neighbourhood on Sunday, killing all nine onboard — including a Texas family of four and a 20-year-old co-pilot — the Washington Post reports.

The Learjet 60 left Austin, Texas, for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas and plunged into Military Trail, a six-lane road in Palm Beach County, around 12:50 local time, exploding on impact and leaving a crater that later partly filled with rainwater from severe storms.

NTSB officials said there is evidence of “some breakup of the aircraft before impact” and that parts may be found away from the crash site. Weather is a major focus; the crew had reported moderate turbulence and ice, then precipitation, before declaring an emergency in an overspeed descent of tens of thousands of feet per minute.

In air-traffic audio a pilot said: “Declare an emergency… we are in an overspeed condition descending, 20,000 feet per minute,” then that they were going to crash into the ground. Flight analysis shows the jet was plummeting hundreds of feet per second.

Families named passengers as tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and nanny Anita Maria Cetina. Media named the pilot as Jeffrey Gregory, 55, and the co-pilot as Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, who earned her licence at 17.

Investigators are also trying to recover a cockpit voice recorder listed in maintenance records. Lead investigator Tim Monville said recovering major wreckage from the crater is the biggest obstacle; the board will not declare a probable cause while still on scene.

Source consulted: Texas couple, their young children among 9 killed in Florida plane crash — The Washington Post.

Image: general aviation aircraft (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sources consulted: Texas couple, their young children among 9 killed in Florida plane crash — The Washington Post.