Photo: Duncan Kirk, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). File photo of a Learjet 60, not the aircraft involved in the crash.
All nine people aboard a private Learjet 60 were killed on Sunday when the jet plunged into a residential neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, and burst into flames, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed. The aircraft had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it went down at around 12:50 p.m. Eastern time near Cresthaven, in the Greenacres area, close to Military Trail and 10th Avenue North — about nine miles from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
A steep, sudden descent
Flight-tracking data and air-traffic recordings reviewed by the Associated Press show the jet flying at about 35,000 feet when its pilots reported turbulence, precipitation and icing, and asked to climb 2,000 feet. Moments later the aircraft entered a steep descent — reports put the rate at more than 20,000 feet per minute in its final moments — and struck the ground almost vertically, leaving a large crater beside the road and scattering debris and fire across the area. Dashcam footage recorded by a passing driver captured the jet dropping out of the sky before the explosion. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who visited the scene, called it a "cataclysmic plane crash" and said the video showed the jet coming down like a missile.
No one on the ground reported hurt — but hundreds displaced
Officials said there were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground being killed or injured, despite the jet coming down beside a busy six-lane road and at the edge of a mobile home community. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue classified the crash as a "mass casualty incident," and the sheriff's office said about 600 residents of a nearby mobile home community were evacuated while investigators worked the site. The crash damaged local infrastructure, including water lines, and officials said the affected stretch of Military Trail could remain closed for an extended period.
What investigators will — and will not — say yet
No cause has been given, and the identities of the nine people aboard had not been released as of Sunday evening. The Federal Aviation Administration said it is sending a team to support the National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead the investigation; the NTSB was expected to hold a media briefing on Monday. Thunderstorms and heavy rain were reported in the area around the time of the crash, and a flood watch remained in effect into Monday, but officials had not linked the weather to the crash. The jet's tail number was reported as N722BD. President Donald Trump had been at Mar-a-Lago earlier on Sunday and departed aboard Air Force One from a nearby airport about an hour before the crash.
Sources: Associated Press, November 1, 2026 (via The Hindu, Indian Express and The Economic Times); Reuters, November 1-2, 2026; News18, November 2, 2026; The Times, November 2, 2026. The cause of the crash has not been determined and the identities of those aboard had not been released; weather details are as reported and have not been linked to the crash by investigators.