Federal investigators have recovered a critical component from the private jet that crashed in Florida on Sunday, finding that it had broken apart and scattered across several miles before the aircraft hit the ground.
The Learjet 60 departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 10:37 a.m. for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. Shortly before 1 p.m., the jet crashed in Palm Beach County, killing all nine people aboard.
Investigators located the aircraft’s left tail elevator, a flight-control surface that helps regulate pitch, in three separate pieces. One section was found nearly four miles from the crash site.
Investigators examine the scene of a plane crash in Greenacres, Florida, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas B. Chapman described the recovered left tail elevator as a “very important piece of evidence” during a briefing Tuesday.
Chapman said fragments of the elevator were discovered between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the crash site, indicating that the component may have separated while the jet was still airborne. Investigators will examine the debris to determine whether the elevator’s loss contributed to the crash or whether aerodynamic forces tore it away from the aircraft.
Investigators expect to reach the crater by Wednesday. The area is currently closed while public utility crews carry out work at the site.
A Learjet 60 crashed into a South Florida neighborhood Sunday afternoon, producing a massive fireball about nine miles from Mar-a-Lago. (Aki Kuusisto via Storyful)
Former NTSB investigator Greg Feith told Fox News that the debris pattern is consistent with an in-flight breakup. He said one possibility is that a pilot’s attempt to level the aircraft placed excessive stress on its structure.
“One of the clues here is that there was an in-flight breakup and that a critical flight control, as the board member said, did come off in flight,” Feith said. “You can see that the airplane leveled off at about 8,000 feet for a very short period of time. That may have been one of the pilots trying to control the airplane, level the airplane, and in doing so over-stretched the structure of the aircraft, causing those parts to fail and come off.”
Adam Robinson, 45, an Austin technology entrepreneur, was among nine people killed in the Learjet crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Nov. 1. Robinson was traveling with his wife and their two young children. (Fox News)
“They’re close to the main impact, which says that those parts came off at a very low altitude,” he added.
The victims included Austin technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; and the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, according to their families. The other passengers were Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr. The plane’s captain, Jeff Gregory, 55, and copilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, also died.
Adam Robinson and his wife, Helen Sharp, were traveling with their two young children when the Learjet carrying them from Texas to the Bahamas crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Nov. 1. (Fox News)
Federal investigators have identified weather as a “major focus” of the investigation. The crew reported icing and moderate turbulence at about 35,000 feet shortly before the aircraft rapidly lost altitude.
The jet had a cockpit voice recorder, but investigators have not located it and cannot yet confirm that it was aboard the aircraft when the crash occurred, NTSB officials said.