NTSB briefs media on deadly Lake Worth Beach Learjet 60 crash investigation

Thank you for coming. Briefing you today on the Learjet accident yesterday is NTSB member Tom Chapman, and that's C-H-A-P-M-A-N. He'll provide some remarks, and then we'll take your questions, and I'll turn it over to Tom. Well, thank you for your interest, and thank you for being here this afternoon. I'm Tom Chapman. I'm a board member with the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB launched Launched a GO team to investigate an accident involving a Learjet 60 aircraft. Operated by Aurora Aviation, doing business as upper jets, and this was a Part 135 operation under the FAA regulations. The crash occurred on Sunday, November 1st, at approximately 12.51 p.m. Eastern Time. The plane crashed in Palm Beach County, near West Palm Beach. A team of about 20 NTSB investigators began arriving on Sunday evening to begin the investigation. Additional NTSB staff arrived today, including myself. Before I go further, on behalf of all of us at NTSB, I want to express our profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were lost in this tragedy. We are truly, truly sorry for your loss. I want to tell you a little bit about NTSB. National Transportation Safety Board is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States. And significant accidents in railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline. We also issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. Here is what we know. At about 10.37 Eastern Time, and all of these times will be Eastern Time. At about 10.37 Eastern Time, the aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. En route to North Eleuthera, Bahamas, with nine people on board, two flight crew and seven passengers. After takeoff, the flight proceeded towards the destination while establishing contact with various ATC facilities along the route of flight. About 12.47 p.m. Eastern Time, the crew transmitted to ATC that they were encountering light, clear ice, which was manageable and also moderate turbulence. While in contact with Miami Air Route Traffic Center, the crew transmitted that they were at 35,000 feet with moderate turbulence with altitude deviations of about 700 feet. The crew reported the outside temperature was minus 47 Celsius, which is minus 53 Fahrenheit, and they were managing the ice but were in moderate turbulence. Very soon after, the crew transmitted, we are picking up precipitation, requesting to climb to 37,000 feet if able, which was approved by FAA air traffic control. Less than 30 seconds later, a transmission from the airplane announced a descent, followed by a mayday call. About 1248 Eastern, the airplane transmitted, we are in an overspeed condition descending, with the rest unintelligible. Subsequent communications described that the airplane was descending rapidly and gave an altitude call-out. Sadly, all aboard were lost. Our investigator in charge is with me here. His name is Timothy Monville. I'm going to invite Tim to speak about the structure and process of the investigation. Mr. Monville is a senior investigator at NTSB with nearly 40 years of experience, and he's leading a multidisciplinary team of experts. Tim? Mr. Chapman, thank you. So as the NTSB investigator in charge, I arrived yesterday evening about 7 p.m., immediately consulted with local law enforcement to identify the scope of the accident site as well as to identify outlying parts. From that initial interaction, I came up with an investigative plan And to document the parts that are known, away from the main impact site, and the investigative team for NTSB includes a drone pilot, a systems and structure specialist, recorder specialist, and specialists from transportation disaster assistance, IT, public affairs, media, and communications. Additional personnel assisting NTSB include the Federal Aviation Administration, representatives of the airframe manufacturer Learjet, Inc. And possibly the operator of the aircraft. In addition to the NTSB specialists away from the site include weather experts and air traffic control experts. We've just begun our documentation. We have a lot of work to do on scene. This will be a several-day process. Yes. And the biggest obstacle that we're going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway. Member Chapman. Thank you, Tim. We are grateful to the many agencies who responded to this tragedy. Too many to list today. Their efforts are very much appreciated. I want to especially thank the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for their assistance and also to Palm Beach County for their assistance and for hosting us here today. NTSB will be interviewing individuals who witnessed the accident. We encourage witnesses or those with information relevant to the investigation, such as videos or photographs, to contact the NTSB by email at witness at ntsb.gov. And let me repeat that email address. It's witness at ntsb.gov. I want to note that if members of the community find debris, please do not move it. Contact us or local authorities and we will respond appropriately. In addition to our investigators, we have specialists from our Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance on scene. They will be working closely with the families and local agencies to provide support to those involved. Our investigators will work to thoroughly document relevant evidence and gather additional Factual information. Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again. We will not be determining the probable cause of the crash while we're here on scene, nor will we speculate about the cause. These are the first steps in a lengthy investigatory process. Once again, I want to extend our condolences to the families, and we are very grateful to the first responders for their efforts. With that, I'll take your questions. If I call on you, please provide your name and also your media affiliation. Yes, ma'am. Kate Hussey with WBTV News. You mentioned the ice and the turbulence, and I know you're not speculating here, but at this point, are you investigating whether or not that played a factor in the crash? That's certainly a factor, absolutely. Yes, sir. We talked about weather challenges generally and certainly types of challenges that were radioed in from the crew. What is the responsibility, how much of the responsibility dealing with those weather challenges falls on the crew versus the air traffic controllers helping them from the ground? Well, that's one of the factual details of how this transpired is exactly what we're trying to determine. And that's one of the questions that will have to be sorted out in And this in terms of. Who knew what and when and what actions were taken and whether those actions were appropriate. Yes, sir? John Gordon, John's Preference Media Network. Thank you, Lord. I, too, would like to express my condolences. And as a 60-year member of the general aviation community, this strikes us all very hard. Can I ask you, and I'm not playing Monday morning quarterback at all, But the turn direct to Freeport, was that issued by ATC or was that a pilot decision before entering the fateful cell? Tim, I don't have details on that. Do you? This may be too early for us to be. I mean, that gets into the realm of speculation. It is, Member Chapman. Again, we've looked and listened to initial audio, but we have not gotten to that level that we can answer that question. Specifically and factually. I too listened to the audio and it was not clear to me at all whether it was ATC or a pilot. Were they proceeding on a clearance that they earlier had gotten? I think we're still determining that. We're in the very early stages here of the investigation. One last question. Are you at all surprised by the We'll The wallet that that relatively small cell appeared to contain, be in my experience as a jet pilot, the NEXRAD was depicting it as red, right not dark red or purple. I don't think that I would have been terribly reluctant to have flown through that. back. Well, the weather conditions are a major focus of the investigation. You all saw what the weather was like here at the surface. What we have to determine is what the weather conditions were like at altitude. They were at about 35,000 feet, and that's still something that has to be determined. Yes, sir. David O'Brien, New York Times. Is there any indication that the plane's control surfaces, like the horizontal stabilizer, may have come off had been compromised in that end part? They may have. We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact. We're still seeking to determine that. Yes, ma'am. Terry Parker, WPBF 25. I'm 25. Do you think that given the impact of this crash that the black box will be intact and that you will be able to retrieve some of this very valuable information from it? It's a two-part question. First, was there a black box? Our indication early here from aircraft maintenance records is that a cockpit voice recorder was installed on this aircraft. What we don't know is whether that recorder was still on board. Sometimes these things change over time. So we're still seeking to determine whether there was a recorder. And then, of course, we're very hopeful that we can recover it. Too early to know, but that'll be very important data. Without it, will you be somewhat stymied in this investigation? Well, we'll be better off with it. Without it, our folks are very, very good. We're still able to do some incredible detective work and determine how things transpired. Yes, sir. All right. I just want to ask you about the audio that we've heard, it's a female voice we know now to be a 20-year-old co-pilot, and a lot of speculation on social media, even the NASA administrator speaking out seemingly in her defense because of some speculation out there. What can you tell us right now that you know about, with what you know right now, what would the role of the co-pilot on the audio recording have been? We don't yet know that, and that is one of the things that we'll seek to determine. Yes, sir, in the back. Ethan, with Channel 9, the weather at the surface, what challenges will that create in your investigation at this point? Well, I know Tim was saying one of the problems right now is that the crater, there's water in the crater. So some of this is just the logistics of being able to access the wreckage. So there will definitely be some challenges involving the weather. And, of course, we don't know what the weather is going to be like over the next couple of days. I'm from Washington. I know you all live here locally. I'm told that the weather has been pretty crazy here lately. So that's something we're going to be concerned about. Yes, sir? Roy Ramer for Local 10 News. When the pilot was making transmissions about gathering precipitation, is the right maneuver to climb to 40,000 feet as they requested? That is a maneuver. I don't know that I would describe it as the right maneuver, but it's certainly one of the possible maneuvers, yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. I don't know that, Tim. I think we're still seeking to determine what the circumstances were at the local airports. I don't know how much of a factor that would be because this aircraft was en route, but that's one of the things we'll look at. I don't believe we have any indication that there's a history of this type of accident with this model of aircraft, Tim. No, I have no personal knowledge. That could be statistically documented within our agency, but at this moment I don't have any information about that. We'll certainly look for trends not only with this model of aircraft. I'm not aware of any right now, but we'll look at that, But also with this specific aircraft, too, whether there's any... any history. Yes ma'am. How big is the debris field and were there any injuries at all on the ground? Tim, I'm going to let you take that one. Okay. So there was a gentleman, I understand, I've learned today that he was in a vehicle that was leaving. The immediately adjacent impacted area, and he sustained a leg injury. He was going to be interviewed today and understand the extent of his injuries. That's all I've been made aware of in terms of injuries. I'm sorry, the other part of the question? Thank you very much. I'm getting conflicting information. It's half mile by four-tenths of a mile, right? But it's scattered among ball fields, businesses. Personal residences and the debris is rather small. And as I indicated, we do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact, and so some of this is yet to be determined. We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site. Have you all been able to find? I don't think we're far enough along here to know what we've found. We're finding debris, but we haven't identified parts yet. Yes, sir? Chris Bonavita, CBS News. I'm wondering, can you explain what you guys hold is salvageable, given the impact of the crash? Well, that's going to be a real challenge, and I think you've seen the video. That is going to be a real challenge, and, Tim, I know that you and your team, that's one of the things that's going to be daunting. And do you know anything about the speed that the aircraft was going before it hit the ground? Not yet. High rate of speed, obviously, but not yet in terms of any kind of precise numbers. For the people that have been displaced in that area, do you have any message for them and how long will they not be allowed to go back to their homes? We're working to do the work that we need. to do, to complete, in order to ensure that access can be opened up there as quickly as we possibly can. I don't want to try to speculate on the time frame, because some of this, again, is we've just got logistical problems with the weather, but we understand the challenges for those folks, and we want to do our work as quickly as we can so that the access to the neighborhood can be reestablished. Last question. Can you confirm that the aircraft actually flew through an active thunderstorm? We can't confirm that yet, but obviously that's something that we're going to try to determine. Thank you all very much. We appreciate your interest. Can you share anything about the victims' identities, citizenship? I don't think anybody in our... That would come from local authority, not even citizenship. I know many residents were vaccinated. Are you at all surprised that ICE was on the line? Thank you. Where? County Administrator, currently Incident Commander, Joseph Abruzzo. I'm going to bring up our board of county commissioners, our mayor. But first, the District Commissioner, Joelle Flores, who was the first county official on site. Commissioner Flores. Good afternoon, everyone. We're going to go on. First of all, my condolences to the family members of those individuals that were lost in the tragic accident. Our concern right now on the county is obviously clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal. There's about 77 or roundabout there mobile homes in the area and they have now gone to either a shelter or with a relative. Unfortunately, as you heard from NTSB, we don't really have a timeline as to when they're going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything that they have to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers. I was there at the shelter this morning. They're all asking the same questions you are. When are we going to be able to get back home? Where am I going to have access to my vehicle, to my work truck? So they're having a hard time deciphering what they're going to be doing over the next week. What I can tell you is I've asked the administrator to see what we can do about getting these people into a temporary housing situation rather than a shelter. And I'm looking to work with non-profits to see if we can do car rental assistance so that these people can get back to work. Also working with PalmTran, we already handed out some PalmTran vouchers, but at this time, the residents are asking the same questions that you guys are asking. When are we going to be able to get back to normal? Thank you very much. Okay. The question is how many people have been evacuated? Thank you. We evacuated the entire community last night with PalmTran, we took out all the people, we opened two shelters, only one is open at the moment, there are about 40 people. Do we have a number how many people we actually evacuated last night? Keep in mind, a lot of these individuals were already outside looking at the incident and then when our police presence arrived and they set up a perimeter, they were asked to leave and they were never able to get back home. Eh, eh. I got to switch. We'll take questions in one second. Let her. I just want, Mayor Baxter, I just wanted the residents to know that we are working together. We have everybody, all hands on deck, from the county administrator who's been doing a phenomenal job, to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue, and all the staff here at the EOC, Mary Blakely. As these residents come up, they keep asking where they can go. So we do plan and we'll provide that information. And what is going on? We were asked about showers. We now have portable showers that are going to be on site at the shelter. And anything we can do, it's just going to be very important that you go on to the website. So if anybody wasn't able to get to their home and they don't know what to do because I was getting those calls late last night, please reach out. Please go on to the website. And take a look at the county's website to have that information, and it'll be able to assist you the best you can. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, Commissioner Flores. As incident commander, we are in a state of emergency from the county perspective. I signed the authorization on behalf of the mayor and the Board of County Commissioners. We're hoping to get an executive order from the governor that the state recognizes that... This is an emergency as well, which will allow us to draw down some more funds for the county. With that said, it's within the emergency powers under the administration. We are working with the mayor, with Commissioner Flores, to get some emergency funds to help those displaced and those involved. We are also working with our housing and economic. Division where we are looking at options for the businesses impacted. We recognize that this area may be closed for quite a bit of time and we want to make sure those businesses, we're doing everything we can to help them survive. It's not lost on you. I'm sure that you see that that crater site is right next to a strip mall. I do wonder if, and maybe this is for the Sheriff's Office, but do you have any idea about the ages of those who were on board and can you confirm whether any minors were on board? We're not allowed to talk about that at this time, nor do we have the full information yet. I'm going to go here and here. Yes, sir. When you talk about these evacuations, are people being kept from their homes because it is dangerous for them to go near the area or because you want to preserve that? I mean, look, it's common sense. There's evidence everywhere. So there is always safety first. The federal government just explained to you it's a large field. The evidence has to be collected. That's paramount in this investigation. So it's not about a concern something might explode? Always, I believe, when our first responders hit safety first, but we do not have any. Thank you very much. And the experts are right here, and you could correct me if I'm wrong. I don't believe we feel anything's going to explode at this point. Yes, ma'am. What about operations at the nearby John I. Leonard High School? I know the school is closed today. Do you expect operations to resume shortly? We do. It's a school board decision at the end of the day. Our side of the government spectrum is not involved in that, but we do believe it will be open shortly. Yes, ma'am. What's your size of the breeding room? Yeah, and they answer that question from their perspective. So, again, it's hard to say at this point. When everybody came on the ground yesterday, it was at night. So daylight today, everybody's working extremely hard. And I can't say it enough. PBSO, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, our medical examiner's office, engineering from the county, FDOT, Governor was here, everything from the state, everybody, and this is good for the residents to know, I was complimented by FBI and federal officials that this was one of the best they've ever seen local government work together and intertwine, and I think that says a lot. Unfortunately, Palm Beach County has been through a lot with natural disasters, not our first rodeo. Any other questions? Commissioner, tell us a little bit about the perimeter that we're talking about. I think you're talking about 40 people on the ship, but how many people, in reality, out of 100 that we're talking about, were displaced? Our projections are that there are about 400 people that have been displaced. The perimeter is about half a mile squared. . And, well, we're trying to help them return to normal as soon as possible. And can you tell us what you said in English when you just spoke about how you arrived in the scene and everything that was happening? Thank you. Repeat the question. What you said at the beginning when you started talking. That is, how the community is being supported, what is happening in the community. Claro. Well, when... Detrás de donde está el impacto hay una comunidad de casas móviles. Son como 77 casas móviles. Desafortunadamente, esta gente ha sido desplazada de sus hogares porque la escena es una escena de crimen y están colectando toda la evidencia que ellos pueden colectar. Thank La comunidad es primariamente hispana. Entonces, los estamos ayudando a regresar a lo normal. Yo le he pedido a la administración, al condado, . de buscarle a vivienda a temporal en lo que . I don't know when they'll be able to return to their homes, very and many of them can't go back to pick up their vehicles. much. So they're without vehicles, they don't have food, we're looking for food assistance, we want to see if we can get them rental car assistance so they can move. Many of them work in... They are building and they need their trucks and that's what we are trying to help them with right now. Should be coming soon. So, el administrador Abruzzo ya ha pedido al gobierno estatal y al gobernador de que nos declare como un estado de emergencia para ver si podemos. regarding state funds to help with the assistance, and this street is also a state street. Did you get the sheriff's office to discuss the death investigation at all? No. No, we will not be part of that investigation. Do we have any sense of when we'll get the IDs of the victims? We'll handle that. But they don't, that's not in their remit. The sheriff's office would be the one to release the IDs or the medical examiner, right? Correct. The sheriff's office, along with us. Any idea when that will happen? I do not. Not this time. Very, very early in the investigation. Thank you, Steve. RME's office, and by the way, Tom Nadler here, Deputy Administrator Tom Nadler, Medical Examiner's Office reports up to him and then to me. They're involved in collection and assessment right now. There's going to be Some DNA that needs to be matched, it's a lengthy process so I wouldn't assume anything right away. Commissioners, if you would like to take a moment. I'm sorry for abusing you, what you were talking about, how long it can take, we are talking about that it is undetermined. I think the question that's being asked is about the timeline. I don't think we have... Unfortunately, at this moment, we don't know how long it's going to take. . . The only person . . who was injured as a resident in the area. Yes, the person was driving towards the southern military when the plane crashed. It seems that the impact of the explosion blew up the airbags and that person was helped, but I think it's stable. Can you repeat the question or the answer in English? The question I think has already been addressed is regarding the individual that was driving by at that moment and that has been... So, to be clear for our residents, we are looking at, until the time being, permanent fixed routes that will go around the site. We do not have a timetable. A couple things you asked about timeline. A few things. We have to determine the structural integrity of the street. How far did the wreckage go down? Where is it at? Until the, we'll call it, crater is drained and we can really get down there to assess what's occurring, we'll determine how quickly we can open up the road and how fast things can be back to normal. So as you've been hearing throughout this press conference, a lot of unanswered questions that will not be able to be conveyed until we get the information. How long do you guys think you can have that shelter open for? I think we'll whatever the residents need you couldn't see a stronger board of county commissioners that want to make sure our residents are protected safe and for sure sheltered so I don't think that it's an indefinite help and support from the county and if there's no further questions I'm going to turn it over to Mayor Baxter to close out. Sorry, I forgot to mute that. I know you guys said it's a school board decision, but as far as time, is there a timetable of when... It's not in our purview. Thank you. Madam Mayor. I just want to close out by saying thank you to everyone and one last plea for the residents. Please pray for these families, for the people that were in this plane. I can't imagine going through a tragedy like this and I can't imagine the loss that they're feeling. So I just ask that everyone please keep them in your thoughts and your prayers And we will keep you updated as much as possible. Thank you so much.