Illustration: unc.wtf breaking news coverage graphic. This is not an actual photo of the Greenacres crash scene.
Learjet 60 Crash Near West Palm: 9 Dead, Co-Pilot Named
Learjet 60 N722BD crashed Nov 1 in Greenacres near West Palm Beach, killing all nine aboard. Family identified co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20.
GREENACRES, Fla., Nov. 2, 2026. Federal investigators spent Monday at the site where a Bombardier Learjet 60 business jet, registration N722BD, crashed Sunday afternoon along South Military Trail near 10th Avenue North in Greenacres, Palm Beach County, killing all nine people aboard. The jet had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.
Video: Unc Taylor commentary on the Learjet 60 crash near West Palm Beach.
Video: Unc Taylor latest update on the Learjet 60 crash near West Palm Beach.
Learjet 60 timeline: ice, turbulence, then a mayday
The aircraft was operated by Aurora Aviation, doing business as Upper Jets, a Fort Lauderdale charter company, and registered to LR60271 LLC. It left Austin at about 10:37 a.m. Eastern time with two flight crew members and seven passengers, National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said at a Monday briefing, according to CBS12.
At about 12:47 p.m., while cruising at 35,000 feet, the crew told air traffic control they were encountering light clear ice and moderate turbulence, with an outside air temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius. The crew then reported picking up precipitation and asked to climb to 37,000 feet, which controllers approved. Less than 30 seconds later, the airplane announced a descent, followed by a mayday call. At about 12:48 p.m., the crew transmitted that the jet was "in an overspeed condition, descending," with the rest of the transmission unintelligible, Chapman said. The jet hit the ground at about 12:50 p.m. during a day of severe thunderstorms across South Florida.
N722BD ATC audio
Air traffic control audio circulating online, and quoted by outlets including The Guardian, captures a female crew member reporting the emergency as the descent rate climbed from roughly 10,000 feet per minute to more than 20,000 feet per minute, with the jet in a steep bank before impact:
"722 Bravo Delta... Mayday, Mayday! We're descending 10,000 feet per minute!"
"We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute... We're gonna crash into the ground."
The recording ends with the crew member saying, "Holy f***, we're out of time," as controllers try to reestablish contact. Videos shared on social media show the jet striking the ground at a steep angle and high speed.
Crater, fire and 600 residents evacuated in Greenacres
The impact left a crater in the roadway, sent up a fireball, brought down power lines and scattered debris across an area investigators described as about half a mile by four tenths of a mile, including ball fields, businesses and homes. About 600 residents of a neighboring mobile home park were evacuated and relocated to shelters. No one on the ground was killed. NTSB investigators said a man in a vehicle leaving the area suffered a leg injury. Local video of the aftermath and the emergency perimeter on Military Trail is available here.
Co-pilot identified as Nathalia Filgueiras, 20
Family members on Monday identified the co-pilot as Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, a Boca Raton area pilot who earned her private pilot license at 17 while attending West Boca Raton High School, CBS12 reported. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, told The New York Times that her daughter worked for Upper Jets and had loved flying since childhood. "She loved the freedom. It was completely different seeing the world from the top," she said, as quoted by The Guardian. As of Monday afternoon, officials had not publicly identified the pilot in command or the seven passengers.
Alexandra Dudgeon misidentified online, family confirms she is alive
Before the family identification, social media users wrongly named Alexandra Dudgeon, a Fort Lauderdale based Learjet 60 second-in-command for Upper Jets, as the pilot heard on the audio, after matching the N722BD registration to an aircraft photo on her LinkedIn profile. Dudgeon publicly denied any involvement: "To everyone reaching out and posting my LinkedIn profile all over social media, I was not involved in the accident. Thank you for checking in." Her family also posted that she is alive, was scheduled off that day and was not on the flight.
Aviation veteran perspective: icing, older jets and maintenance discipline
Disclosure: Unc Taylor owns and operates Taylor Marine and related brands, and publishes unc.wtf.
According to Unc Taylor (Marc A. Taylor), an 8-year U.S. Air Force veteran, professional captain, commercial real estate investor, South Florida streamer and social event host also known as Taylor Marine, the publicly reported details of the N722BD flight describe the kind of stacked risk that crews and maintainers are trained to avoid: ice and turbulence at altitude on a severe storm day, combined with the demands an older business jet design places on maintenance. The Learjet 60 line entered service in the 1990s.
Taylor served in the Air Force beginning in 2003 and spent years servicing engines, airframes, subsystems and ground support equipment on fighter, cargo, corporate and small aircraft. He later towed aircraft and handled high-profile arrivals at Jetscape, the fixed base operator at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (KFLL), 350 SW 34th Street, Fort Lauderdale.
While still in the military, Taylor also worked as a Department of Defense contractor. In July 2009 he deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a 12-member bearing team, six of them Americans drawn from the Marines, Navy, Air Force and Army, to train Saudi pilots and technicians on servicing the GE F110 turbofan under a U.S. and Saudi government contract. One of seven transferred engines had been damaged in shipping without the damage being reported, and a $20,000 award was offered to whoever located the damaged bearing. After the team tore down all seven engines, Taylor found it, and the contract finished in about three months instead of the planned six.
"You don't survive a crash. You survive mishaps," Taylor said. "A happy pilot avoids severe weather, aircraft that have not been kept right, and older airframes pushed past their margin. Stack all three and you are gambling."
Taylor stressed that his comments are general safety context and not a finding about this flight. The NTSB has not determined what caused the crash.
NTSB investigation: weather a major focus
The NTSB is leading the investigation with a team of about 20 investigators, joined by the Federal Aviation Administration and representatives of the aircraft manufacturer, with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and county emergency officials supporting the scene. Chapman said weather at altitude will be a major focus and that there is some evidence the aircraft began breaking up before impact. Investigators are still working to determine whether the cockpit voice recorder can be recovered. The agency has not determined a cause and typically issues a preliminary report within a few weeks.
The NTSB asked anyone with photos, video or information about the crash to email witness@ntsb.gov, and asked residents who find debris to leave it in place and contact authorities. An aviation safety explainer on the crash is on the unc.wtf Fort Lauderdale blog.