Debris scattered miles from site of Palm Beach County jet crash

The discovery of a tail section component located that distance away suggests the plane likely disintegrated in mid-air before impact, stated NTSB member Tom Chapman during a Tuesday press briefing. Fragments were scattered as far as 3.8 miles from the crash site. Chapman elaborated that the tail’s elevator was found fractured into three separate pieces.

“The function of the elevator is to control the pitch up and down,” Chapman explained. “At those speeds I don’t know that it would’ve been effective even if it had still been attached to the aircraft, but knowing that it was lost is a very important piece of evidence in terms of pointing us towards other things to investigate.”

Prior to the crash, co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, communicated with air traffic control, reporting ice accumulation and severe turbulence that caused the aircraft to fluctuate more than 700 feet. She issued a “mayday” call as the jet rapidly descended.

The Learjet 60, en route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, ultimately crashed, resulting in a fiery explosion. Among the nine fatalities were Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp, a couple from Austin, along with their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. Other victims identified include Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr, Anita Maria Cetina, and Jeff Gregory, 55, the other pilot.

Air traffic control recordings captured a man’s voice reciting the Lord’s Prayer during the plane’s descent, believed to be Gregory, who was known to be a devout Christian. Filgueiras was interviewed by CBS News Miami affiliate WPEC three years ago, when she was a high school senior in Boca Raton and had already obtained her pilot’s license.