Investigators found three pieces of a Learjet 60’s left elevator between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the road where the jet crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on November 1, 2026, killing both pilots and all seven passengers.
The pieces account for most of the left elevator, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman said at a November 3 briefing. Their discovery confirms that part of the tail separated in flight.
Chapman said the crew would have been unable to pull the Learjet out of its dive without the elevator intact. “At those speeds I don’t know that it would’ve been effective even if it had still been attached to the aircraft,” he said.
In still frames from dashcam footage taken moments before impact, the Learjet appears to be missing its entire horizontal stabilizer. Asked about the stabilizer at a November 2 briefing, Chapman said investigators had evidence of an in-flight breakup. Whether the entire stabilizer separated remains a focus of the investigation.
Aurora Aviation operated the charter flight from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) in Texas to North Eleuthera (ELH) in the Bahamas. At about 12:47 local time, the Learjet was flying at 35,000 feet when the crew reported light clear icing and moderate turbulence. The pilots described the ice as manageable but told air traffic control the jet was deviating from its assigned altitude by about 700 feet.
The crew then reported precipitation and asked to climb to 37,000 feet. Less than 30 seconds after a controller approved the climb, the crew radioed that the aircraft was descending and declared an emergency. At about 12:48, the crew reported an overspeed. The jet struck South Military Trail near Greenacres about three minutes later.
Crews had to pump water from the impact crater before investigators could reach the main wreckage. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said a water main had broken and heavy rain slowed the work.
Among the items investigators hoped to recover was a cockpit voice recorder. Chapman said maintenance records showed that a recorder had been installed, although investigators were still working to establish whether it was aboard for the flight.
Austin tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, and his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, were traveling with their two young children. The other passengers were the children’s nanny, Ana María Ramírez Cetina, 24, and family friends Rowan Charmi Fehr Toews and Rachael Reed, both 38.
The pilots were Captain Jeffrey Gregory, 55, and First Officer Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20.