Chilling recordings from the final moments of a private jet that crashed in Florida on Sunday reveal dramatic exchanges between the aircraft's crew and air traffic controllers shortly before the disaster, which killed all nine people on board.
The recording captures the crew issuing a distress call and reporting an unusually rapid loss of altitude, culminating in the chilling warning: "We're going to crash onto the ground."
The Learjet 60 took off from Austin, Texas, bound for the Bahamas. During the flight, the crew informed air traffic controllers that ice was accumulating on the aircraft and that they were encountering turbulence. Shortly afterward, the situation rapidly deteriorated, and the plane began plunging toward the ground over a residential area in Palm Beach County, Florida.
In the recording, one of the crew members can be heard declaring: "Mayday, mayday! We're losing altitude at a rate of 10,000 feet per minute." Seconds later, she reports that the descent rate has increased to 20,000 feet per minute and that the aircraft is overspeeding.
The air traffic controller attempts to assist the crew and maintain contact. "Let me know what you need," he is heard saying, and "I'm here, talk to me." But the reports from the aircraft grow increasingly alarming.
"We're going to crash into the ground," one of the crew members says. He later reports that the plane is descending at 22,000 feet per minute and is tilted at a 60-degree angle.
In one of the final exchanges captured, a voice from the aircraft is heard saying: "We're running out of time."
Shortly afterward, contact is lost and the aircraft crashes near a road in a residential area. The impact triggers a massive explosion and leaves a large crater at the scene. All nine people aboard were killed.
Following the crash, hundreds of residents were evacuated from the area surrounding the crash site. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the circumstances of the crash, with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The cause of the aircraft's rapid loss of altitude and subsequent crash has not yet been determined.