NTSB: Jet tail broke off 3.8 miles before Florida crash
Investigators found the left elevator scattered far from the impact site, ruling out ground impact as the cause of the separation.
By Isaac Medina ·
A private jet lost its tail control surface miles before it crashed into a residential area in Florida on Sunday, killing nine people.
The aircraft departed Texas for the Bahamas on Sunday afternoon. It descended into a neighborhood near Palm Springs, Palm Beach County. The impact forced hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate. On Monday, severe weather swept through the region, delaying initial recovery efforts. On Tuesday, federal investigators returned to the scene to collect scattered debris.
National Transportation Safety Board Member Tom Chapman announced that the plane's left elevator broke apart. Investigators located the pieces between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the main crash site. Chapman stated the distance makes it implausible that the surface broke during the ground impact. The elevator controls the pitch of the airplane. Chapman said the NTSB is using the recovered fragments for technical analysis.
The NTSB is weighing two primary scenarios for the crash. One possibility is that the separation caused the plane to lose control. The other is that extreme forces ripped the structure away mid-flight. Chapman confirmed that storms remain a primary focus of the investigation.
Local public works crews removed a utility pole on Tuesday to help teams access the crater. Chapman said removing water from the impact zone allows investigators to recover components buried inside. He expressed confidence that the team will find critical parts needed to explain the sequence of events. Chapman also noted there is no evidence linking the crash to its proximity to Mar-a-Lago.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact locations where searchers recovered the elevator pieces. The collected debris consists almost entirely of very small fragments. Many items remain unidentified until examination. Officials have not established the final cause of the crash. Chapman announced Tuesday was the agency's final onsite briefing. Future updates will appear online and through official media relations channels.
