Posted on 11/04/2026 5:25:12 AM PST by Red Badger
Pieces of the tail of the Learjet that crashed in Florida have been found miles away from the crash site, which suggests that part of the aircraft broke off before it hit the ground, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Federal investigators found three pieces of the jet's left elevator between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site in Palm Beach County, Florida, NTSB member Thomas Champman said Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The plane's elevator controls the aircraft's pitch up or down, and without it, an aircraft cannot recover from a nose dive.
Chapman said that the discovery of the pieces suggests that these key parts separated from the aircraft prior to impact.
"What that means exactly in terms of what caused the aircraft to lose control, or whether the loss of this piece was a result of the forces on the aircraft, we don’t know yet," he said.
The Learjet 60 departed from Austin, Texas, and was heading for Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas when it crashed Sunday, killing all nine people on board.
Ping...........😢
That explains a lot... dont really buy the Ice build up prediction.
Tail elevator was missing. Explains a lot. Was probably sheared off by the stress of overspeed condition. No hope of recovery... ...........
If it was part of the left or all of the left elevator, that would also explain not just why they went into the dive, because they lose vertical attitude control, but also why they went into that fairly hard bank on the way down.
So the gal told ATC on the radio they were fighting ice, but you don’t buy it? Ok then.
The ice caused the stall leading to the dive which tore the control surfaces off.
I also didn’t get the ice buildup thing. Not that they didn’t have wing icing, but it just didn’t seem like the kind of action that would result from just a stall.
See post# 30
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4401536/posts
Some are saying that the elevator could have broke off during the dive though, but I think the failure happened and caused the descent.
I also didn’t get the ice buildup thing. Not that they didn’t have wing icing, but it just didn’t seem like the kind of action that would result from just a stall.
See post# 30
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4401536/posts
Some are saying that the elevator could have broke off during the dive though, but I think the failure happened and caused the descent.
Remember the Communication that she said they were getting a little ice, then less than a minute later they were in a dive and MAYDAY condition. ...-—... Then that would seem to indicate the elevator suddenly became inoperable and they had no way of knowing just what had happened.............
Hey I may be wrong... but any experienced pilot would have flown in these conditions before. typically they fly around the thunderheads. weaving in and out of them. I’ve been in planes several times that did it. The fact that ATC DID NOT instruct them to change course well ahead of time tells me they allowed the aircraft to fly into in. I may be wrong here as well but it is something to think about.
It could very well be they lost control of the elevator and that is what sent them into the stall and could have had the same affect as ice...
I’m not a pilot nor an aeronautical engineer.
But from what I understand, they had requested clearance for a higher altitude and were climbing when suddenly they began to dive.
Curious if maybe too much input on the elevator for the pitch up could have ripped the elevators off, or maybe a control system malfunction or ice caused them to overextend? Seems like a sudden full extension of the elevators would act like sails at that speed and altitude.
Once those were gone, there probably wouldn’t be much they could do to recover, even if they realized what the problem was.
Weren’t they at 40,000 feet a few minutes before the crash? As they approached the coastline, getting closer to their landing, they were sent to 35,000. If they stayed at 40,000 we might not be talking about this matter today. The 400 to 350 change should not have been issued DUE TO WEATHER in front of them.
AOC is glad they found the tail section. “Now they can see if there is ice buildup on the tail.”
Kamal Harris reiterated the point that “the crash caused the airplane to crash.”
EC
If those pieces broke off, then what caused them to break off? This crash may prove to be mechanical related but I guess we’ll see.
“don’t really buy the Ice build up prediction.”...
Even though the co-pilot told the controllers they were building ice but controlling it? Don’t overthink this.
Super-cold and already had icing problems. Flew thru a thunderstorm with lots of water in it. Occams razor says they iced the wings, lost lift and began plummeting. Probably got MORE ice and reached an over-speed condition, which the co-pilot indicated. Over-speed broke off part of the tail.
Investigation might find something different but in all likelihood this will end up being pilot error. They were in dangerous icing conditions and flew into precipitation. Stalled the wings broke off part of the tail on the dive.
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