'We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute': Female pilot’s last audio before Florida crash

It was a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon in South Florida when a business jet came plunging out of the clouds. Seconds later it was a fireball beside a busy road, just feet from people's homes. All nine people on board were dead.

The Bahamas-bound Learjet 60 hit the ground in Greenacres, Palm Beach County, at around 12:50 pm. It had taken off from Austin, Texas.

Drivers caught the final seconds on camera: the jet in a steep dive, the impact, the blast. What remained was a smoking crater ringed by chunks of burning road. Cars had passed within inches. The homes nearby were spared by a few feet.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that no one survived and called it a "horrific tragedy".

The Federal Aviation Administration is supporting the National Transportation Safety Board, which leads the investigation. Who was on the plane and why it fell remain unanswered.

Also Read: Florida crash: 9 killed after private jet nosedives near homes in Palm Beach County, erupts into fireball

Voices from the cockpit

Air traffic control recordings, picked up by LiveATC.net, trace the last minutes of the flight. At 35,000 feet and heading east, the crew radioed in turbulence, ice and precipitation and asked to climb another 2,000 feet.

At first the voice on the radio sounded steady. The ice was light and manageable, the turbulence moderate, even as the jet was thrown around by as much as 700 feet.

Then everything changed.

The aircraft began to drop at roughly 10,000 feet per minute. "Mayday, mayday," the voice called out. "We're descending 10,000 feet per minute."

The descent only got faster. 20,000 feet per minute. Then, according to tracking data, as much as 30,000, far beyond what the aircraft is designed to withstand. The crew reported an overspeed condition. The jet swung into a hard right bank, reportedly tilted at about 60 degrees, close to sideways.

"We're going to crash into the ground."

Then, according to reports, the woman on the radio turned to someone beside her in the cockpit. "Look outside, Jack, look outside! Holy fu*k, we're out of time."

Those were the last words anyone heard. Reuters reported that about 35 seconds passed between the first mayday and that final call. Air traffic control kept trying to reach the aircraft. Nobody answered.

Chaos on the ground

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, standing near the scene, called it a cataclysmic crash and said the jet came down like a missile.

There were no immediate reports of anyone hurt on the ground, which seemed almost impossible given how close the wreckage landed to houses and traffic.

Authorities began evacuating about 600 residents from a nearby mobile home community as investigators moved in.