NTSB: Learjet Tail Elevator Found 3.8 Miles From Greenacres Crash Site

National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman announced Tuesday that investigators recovered most of the left elevator from the Learjet 60 that crashed in Florida on Sunday. The tail control surface, which manages the aircraft's pitch, was found in three separate pieces. The fragments lay between 1.3 miles and 3.8 miles from the impact site in Greenacres, near West Palm Beach. This distance confirms the plane was disintegrating before it hit the ground.

Chapman stated that the loss of the elevator would have prevented the pilot from pulling the jet out of its steep dive. He noted that at the speeds involved, the control might not have been effective even if it had remained attached. However, he called the discovery a critical piece of evidence that directs the inquiry toward other factors. Chapman explained that the team does not yet know if the loss caused the loss of control or resulted from the forces acting on the aircraft during the descent.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press that the broken pieces were likely a byproduct of the nosedive rather than the initial cause. He reasoned that if the parts had detached at high altitude, they would have traveled much farther. Finding them within a few miles suggests they fell off as the plane was already close to the earth. This detail helps investigators narrow the timeline of the structural failure.

The Learjet departed from Austin, Texas, and was headed for the Bahamas when it went down Sunday afternoon. All nine people on board died. The victims included technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children. Jeff Gregory, 55, a resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, served as one of the two crew members in the cockpit. Friends believe his voice was heard reciting the Lord's Prayer during the co-pilot's final radio transmissions.

Co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras sent a text message to her boyfriend about ten minutes before the crash. She reported having turbulence and ice. In the final two minutes of the flight, her calm communications with air traffic control shifted to urgent updates. She reported that ice was accumulating and that turbulence had thrown the plane up and down by more than 700 feet. She declared that they were going to crash into the ground as the jet descended at over 20,000 feet per minute. Her last words were that they were out of time.

The aircraft hit the earth with enough force to create a crater before catching fire. Approximately 600 residents near the site remain displaced, though only one person on the ground was injured. Investigators have been collecting dashcam video and speaking to witnesses in the area. They plan to access the crater on Wednesday to retrieve critical components after several days of heavy rain. Chapman reiterated on Tuesday that weather remains a major focus of the investigation.

Thomas Noetzel, the director of operations for Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, organized an online fundraiser for Gregory's family. Noetzel described Gregory as a devoted and conscientious man who loved flying. Gregory's father, Walter, posted on Facebook that his son had a strong love for the Lord. A preliminary NTSB report is expected in about a month, but determining the probable cause will likely take more than a year.