A Learjet that slammed into a Florida roadway on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard, may have been breaking up before it hit the ground, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.
"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," NTSB board member Tom Chapman said at an afternoon news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Today, there is some new information about that deadly jet crash
that left this crater right here in the ground.
It's happening, of course, in Palm Beach, Florida.
A family member has identified one of the pilots this while
authorities continue to work to find out what went wrong there.
The flight's final moments were caught on camera.
We need to warn you that some of the images are disturbing.
ABC's Rena Roy now with the update.
An urgent investigation is underway in Florida,
just south of West Palm Beach.
Investigators with the NTSB working
to figure out how this jet came crashing down
in the middle of a busy roadway on Sunday afternoon.
The NTSB asked if the aircraft's control services were compromised.
We do have some evidence that there
was some breakup of the aircraft before impact.
We're still seeking to determine that.
The seven passengers and two crew members on board killed.
Including a 20-year-old pilot,
Natalia Cogueras, her stepfather told ABC News.
The aircraft was traveling to the Bahamas from Austin, Texas Sunday.
Flight Radar 24 data shows the 22-year-old Learjet 60 made
a rapid dive about 350 feet per second over Palm Beach.
Today, the NTSB saying weather is a major focus of the investigation.
Moments before the crash, the pilot requested to air traffic control
to climb 2,000 feet higher as the jet passed through storms.
The crew is then heard asking ATC for a new and better route,
if possible, before the Mayday call came.
The crew transmitted to ATC that they were encountering white,
clear ice, which was manageable.
And also moderate turbulence.
You can see the aircraft erupt into a fireball,
this massive crater left behind.
A chemigram was just about 100 feet away when the aircraft crashed.
I heard the new and then explosion.
The building definitely shook.
There was shards of metal,
big chunks of it that were all over the place,
and people were running over it.
The NTSB says this investigation will likely take several days,
saying that they have a lot of work ahead of them.
Adding that their most difficult task will
be recovering all the wreckage from that huge crater.
Rena Roy, ABC News, New York.
