Learjet Crash Probe Recovers Voice Recorder, but Working Status Unknown

Federal investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the Learjet that crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Nov. 1, killing all nine people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday the device is now at its Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, where specialists will determine whether it works and whether it captured any audio.

According to ABC News and CNN, it was not immediately known whether the recorder was damaged or functioning. The NTSB also said excavation at the impact site is complete, KEYE reported.

The key numbers in the Learjet investigation

• Nine: the number of people killed. The jet had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, according to KEYE.
• About 700 feet: how far turbulence was throwing the aircraft up and down, according to what a pilot told air traffic control, as CNN reported. ABC News said the co-pilot made the report and asked for a better route.
• Less than 30 seconds: the time between the controller approving the crew's request to climb and the point where, per CNN, something went wrong. KEYE reported the crew then made a mayday call, saying the plane was descending in an overspeed condition.
• 1.3 to 3.8 miles: the distance from the crash site at which three pieces of the left elevator were found, NTSB member Tom Chapman said last week. The elevator is the tail part that controls the nose's up-and-down movement.
• 12 to 18 months: the usual length of an NTSB crash investigation, according to ABC News. CNN quoted an agency spokesperson as saying a probable cause could take one to two years.
• More than 1,200: the active investigations being pursued by the NTSB's roughly 400 workers, ABC News reported.

What the recorder could reveal

ABC News said the recording, if it can be recovered, could show what the pilots said to each other as they met turbulence and ice and lost control. It could also help explain why the jet appeared to steer around a large storm cell and then head into a rapidly developing smaller one.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press that photos the NTSB posted show the recorder's orange metal shell in decent shape. He said it is very plausible that information on it survived.

There is a caution. CNN and ABC News both noted that investigators in the January 2025 crash of a medical transport jet in Philadelphia recovered a recorder that had not worked for several years. That crash killed seven people.

What investigators already know about the breakup

Because the elevator pieces were found so far from the crater, Chapman said, the part broke away before the plane hit the ground. CNN reported that it is not yet clear whether the loss of the part caused the dive or whether heavy force tore it off. Scattered storms were moving through the area, and a pilot had described ice forming on the plane as manageable, CNN reported.

KEYE reported that investigators have also recovered parts of both wings and engines, the flight deck, the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, sections of the ailerons and several flap track assemblies. Some were sent to NTSB laboratories.

Why it matters for residents and the flying public

The NTSB is asking anyone who found or collected debris from the crash to contact the agency rather than keep, move, alter or discard it. KEYE reported that people can email [email protected] to arrange recovery and should include a photo if possible. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy wrote on X that "recovering all available wreckage is critical to the investigation."

The findings could also bear on how business jets are operated and monitored. Investigators will examine the plane's maintenance history, the decisions made in the cockpit and by air traffic control, and the pilots' procedures, CNN reported. ABC News said they will also interview officials at Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, as well as controllers and airport workers in Austin.

What happens next

CNN reported that the NTSB expects to release a preliminary report in about a month. A final determination of probable cause will take considerably longer, with timelines in the sources ranging from 12 months to two years, and ABC News noted that complicated cases can run longer.

Read next
How Ukrainian Drone Crews Caught a Faster Russian Helicopter on the Ground
What We Know About the Drone Attack on the Greek-Managed Tanker Contship Jet
Europe's Reusable Space Rider Mockup Hits the Ground After Parachute Fails

Around Prague, based on reporting by CNN, ABC News, KEYE