Chilling New Questions in Florida Learjet Crash

A Lear jet fell out of the sky over a. Florida neighborhood. Nine people are. dead and now for the first time we are. hearing the 911 calls from the people on. the ground who are struggling to make. sense of what just happened. >> We need I think police cuz I think a. boat just landed. >> And we have more information. What the. NTSB says is still missing from the. crater. What happens next? We've got a. former NTSB board member coming on. He's. going to walk us through everything we. should be looking for. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm.

Jesse Weber. I know this is a little bit of 180, but. I was just thinking about it. Thanksgiving is like right around the. corner. And when you think about it, Thanksgiving is supposed to be about, you know, spending time with your. family. You know what it's not supposed. to be about? Standing over the oven all. day wondering if the turkeyy's actually. done. That is why I got to tell you. about this. Okay, right here, this is. the Chef IQ Sense Smart Thermometer. Okay, you don't have to be a. professional chef to get great results. You just put this wireless probe right. in. You tell the app what you're.

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the need for answers for the family, for. the industry, this is something that we. feel is important to shed a light on and. that's what we want to do and that's why. we have new information that we want to. bring to you. result. The NTSB, so the. National Transportation Safety Board, now says it has finished its onseene. work outside the crater, meaning outside. the crash site. And what they pulled. from the scene is staggering. There's a. lot to talk about there as we look ahead.

to what is coming next in this. investigation. But we have also learned. a lot more over the past few days. because a series of 911 calls were. released that are now revealing some of. the confusion, the chaos from the. bystanders in those horrifying moments. before the plane came down. And we heard. for the first time from the father of. the young co-pilot, Natalyia Gada. Filgaras. And just quickly, if you're. you're catching up to this, if you don't.

know more about it, there was a Learjet. 60 that was flying from Austin to the. Bahamas on November 1st. Two pilots, seven passengers. The crew reported. icing and turbulence at 35,000 ft. They. asked to climb. They got approval and. less than 30 seconds later, the plane. was nose diving and it crashed. All nine. people on board were killed. And as of. Sunday, November 8th, the NTSB says it. has now completed its onseene. investigative activities with one. exception, the excavation of the impact.

site itself, which is still ongoing. So, in a post on X, the NTSB wrote, and this. is significant, quote, "Investigators. have recovered and identified portions. of the aircraft, including components. from both wings, both engines, the. flight deck, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, left elevator, aileron sections, and multiple flap. track assemblies. Some of the recovered. parts have been sent to the NTSB. laboratories in Washington DC for. further inspection. If you have found or. collected any debris from the crash.

site, please do not keep it or attempt. to move, alter, or dispose of it. We ask. that you contact the NTSB at witness. ntsb.gov. to arrange its recovery. Please include. a photo of the debris, if possible, in. your email. Recovering all available. wreckage is critical to the. investigation and helping to determine. the cause of the crash. And the NTSB. isn't the only agency still working at. this scene. You have the Palm Beach. County Sheriff's Office that says its. deputies have helped more than 30.

business owners and numerous residents. to safely access their properties in. order to get essential belongings and. assess the damage to their property. In. a post to Facebook, the agency wrote, quote, "First and foremost, our hearts. remain with the families and loved ones. of those who lost their lives. No words. can express the sorrow surrounding such. a devastating loss, and we extend our. deepest condolences to everyone affected. by this tragedy. Since the moment of the. crash, our teams have worked tirelessly. around the clock alongside our local and.

federal partners to assist with recovery. efforts and the ongoing investigation. We also recognize the impact this. tragedy has had on nearby residents and. businesses, many of whom have. experienced significant disruptions to. their daily lives and livelihoods. In an. effort to ease some of these hardships, our deputies have assisted more than 30. business owners and numerous residents. in safely accessing their properties to. retrieve essential belongings and assess. potential damage. Today, our teams. continued the difficult work of locating. and recovering human remains,

documenting and collecting aircraft. debris. We understand the frustration. and emotional toll this tragedy has. placed on our community. Please know. that every effort is being made to. conduct a thorough and respectful. investigation while remaining mindful of. those whose lives have been so deeply. affected. We sincerely appreciate the. patience, compassion, and understanding. of our residents and business owners as. we continue this difficult but necessary. work. And the impact on the ground goes. beyond the debris. Because according to. WPBF25.

News, twisted pieces of metal believed. to be from that plane slammed through. the roof of Anna Escobar's home. This is. less than a mile from the crash site. So, it punched a hole and caused part of. her kitchen ceiling to collapse. And as. of this weekend, WPBF reported that. roughly 800 nearby residents still can't. return home. with power, water. restoration, among many obstacles, about. 68 people are staying at the Green Acres. Community Center. And this is another.

component. The PBSO has also released. 911 calls showing the chaos, the. confusion on the ground after what they. had just witnessed. >> We need I think police cuz I think a. bomb just landed. through the mine. >> What's going on? Um I think so I think a um an airplane. or rocket something fell from the sky. We felt our house shake and then we. heard an explosion when we ran outside. We didn't see like the actual thing fall. but sparks came out and there was a. bunch of smoke.

>> Is it possible that it was a transformer. that blew? >> I'm I'm going to be so honest. I don't. know. >> Fell the Okay. >> Yeah. Something fell as well. Like it. was so hard that it shook. I thought it. was lightning or something. Do you think. maybe it was the a lightning strike? >> We don't know. That's the thing. But it. like it shook our house and everything, which is why I was worried about it. >> There was like a like a bomb explosion. or. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But the cops are here already.

>> Nine people were on that plane. Adam. Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their. two young children, four-year-old Emma, 2-year-old Charlie. Also killed were. family friends Rachel Reed and Charie. Far. the children's caregiver, Anita. Maria Satina, the two pilots, 55-year-old Jeffrey Gregory and. 20-year-old Natalyia Faggeras. In a. joint statement, the families wrote that. quote, "Adam and Helen were devoted. parents, and Emma, four, and Charlie 2. were the light of their lives. Helen and.

Adam were the love affair that will last. forever. Their warmth, generosity, and. gift for making people feel welcome. touched so many lives. Jeremy and Rachel. were full of joy and adventure. They. love their people fiercely, fully, and. without hesitation. From the moment they. met, they were all in on each other and. the life they were building. They are. deeply loved, and we will miss them. endlessly. And we also learned something. new this weekend about Anita from her. sister Angie, who spoke to the US son. from their home in Colombia. Anita was. 24, biomedical engineer. She had come to.

the US about 2 years earlier. She was. weeks away from her 25th birthday. Angie. said the two of them video called on the. morning of November 1st, so the day of. the flight. And Anita showed her the. children. She even showed her the plane. Angie told the outlet she was very. happy. She was truly happy because she. had never been to the Bahamas. And even. though she was working, she didn't see. it as work. She enjoyed it. Angie said. Anita spoke about the Robinson family. constantly, that she loved the job, that. she loved Emma and Charlie, that she.

loved the family dearly. And Angie. described seeing the crash video on. social media before she even knew what. was going on. and she checked out the. flight path and she told the outlet, "I. didn't want to accept that it might be. my sister on the plane." Her mother. called the next morning to confirm it. And while people on the ground were. trying to figure out what had just. happened, Natalya's family was also left. to process this tragedy. And on November. 6, her father, Allen, along with the. family's attorney, spoke publicly for. the first time. He's also a pilot. He. helped teach his daughter to fly. told.

reporters that he's listened to the. Mayday call repeatedly. >> She made me so proud. She She showed me. what it is to be a hero. I did listen to. that many times trying to find a clue. in my head. how that happened. And. wow, she's tough. I wanted to be by her. side.

inside the plane to help. to be by her siblings. She. I had to be next to her. >> Now, we've seen a lot of talk online. about how a 20-year-old could be in the. cockpit of a Learjet, but we're also. learning she had more than 1300 hours of. flight experience. Her father's attorney. said the family's goal in speaking out. is to preserve her memory, to preserve.

her reputation. Her father went on to. say this. >> I got to make my four kids and my wife. and myself proud. So, I I have to find a. way. Natalia doesn't want to see a father. uh falling apart. So, I got to I'm going. to find a way. I'm going to find a way to make her. proud. Meanwhile, others who knew. Natalya have been speaking out as well. Michaela Schluth, who's known her since. middle school, told CBS News that she. listened to the final audio. She called.

it quote definitely probably the worst. thing I've ever heard. But she said. she's proud of how her friend handled it. and how she was able to stay calm and. give information up until the last. minute. While the family was processing. their grief, investigators were still on. the ground digging. The NTSB began. excavating that crater on Wednesday once. crews had drained the water, cleared the. unstable utility pole, and once they got. in, they found a portion of one of the. jet's engines. They also confirmed that.

debris landed on the roofs of nearby. homes and buildings. But there was one. critical piece of equipment that is. apparently still missing because the. records show that the jet had a cockpit. voice recorder installed, but. investigators reportedly haven't found. it. They can't yet confirm if it was. even on board when the plane went down. And then there's the physical evidence. at the center of it all because the NTSB. confirmed that most of the jets left. elevator, the tail control surface that. controls the pitch, whether the nose. goes up or down, that was found in three.

pieces between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from. the crash site. Officials said that the. distance indicates it separated before. impact. And what they don't know yet is. whether that separation caused the dive. or whether the forces of the dive tore. it off. And so clearly there are a lot. of questions about what's happening and. what we can expect next. Okay. So I have. a great guest right now to talk about. this. I'm joined by a former NTSB board. member, aviation safety expert, uh John. Golia. Thank you so much for taking the. time, sir. I wish it was under different. circumstances. I say that every time as.

I've been covering this. Um but I think. it's an important event to uh to go. through. And we just got this. development. And I talked about it. earlier where NTSB said they have. investigators have recovered and. identified portions of the aircraft. including components from both wings, both engines, the flight deck, vertical. stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, left. elevator, alrion sections, and multiple. flap track assemblies. What does that. tell you about what they could use those.

components for to help determine what. happened with the crash? Why are those. significant? Well, when those pieces. come back to the laboratory, the ones. that they they question. uh such as the the structure around the. horizontal stabilizer, that material failure in those in that. metal when you put it under the scanning. electron microscope will tell you all. sorts of uh information about how it. failed. Did it fail in an overload? Did.

it have a previous crack or structural. uh degradation? So, all of those bits and pieces will be. kept cataloged and as the investigation. continues, if there's a question about. any piece of the structure of the. airplane, those pieces will come out of. out of storage essentially and be. scanned by the microscope uh to figure. out how they failed.

The the one of one of the wonderful. things about metal is when it has an. overload or some sort of a failure, the. the fingerprints stay there for a long. time. Long as you don't disturb them, you don't subject them to uh. contamination in any way. Uh they will. tell you a very interesting story that. doesn't change. >> Let me ask you about that. Are you are. you saying that it could tell you. whether there were um inherent. structural defects in any of those. components or are you saying that as a.

result of turbulence or weather or. whatever happened on that day that that. is what caused potential problems with. those components? >> Yes. The metal will tell you whether it. was a failure in overload. In other. words, a piece of metal was designed to. hold 10,000 lbs and suddenly it was. subjected to 20,000 lbs. It'll tell you. that. It'll tell you if during. manufacturer. if there was a flaw inside the metal. that went undetected.

It was sitting there like a a time bomb. waiting for the right time to to fail. It'll be able to tell you that. So. that's why all these bits and pieces. that some people think it's crazy that. we picked them all up, that's why they. picked them all up because later on they. may give you a critical clue in solving. the puzzle. Does it also matter where. they were located, how far apart they. were? >> Oh, no question about it. Now, in an. impact zone, you you got to expect that. the they're going to spread out like a.

like a uh big mushroom cloud, right? They're going to be thrown far and wide. But the case where they found the. stabilizer, pieces of the elevator, where they found them is very important. and some of those bigger pieces if they. left the airplane early, the radar may. be able to show where those where they. came off. So that all these pieces come. together. And I I sort of get angry when. I hear all these some of these uh. so-called experts on on all these news.

channels grab one piece of of. information and grow a whole story out. of it. That's not possible, you know, and most of the times all of us. investigators who have done it for a. living have learned to keep our mouth. shut about that, right? Yes, we we think. the same way, right? But we learned that. when you open your mouth early, sometimes there's a big foot getting put. in it. >> What is some of the conclusions that you. you don't have to name names, but what. are some of the conclusions that you see. people drawing immediately without.

knowing the full breath of the. investigation? Immediately they blamed. the 20-year-old pilot without even. knowing her background. >> This girl was aviation from a very early. age. She was better pilot than many men. It's just frustrating that they jump all. over it. Just a little piece. She 1300. hours and and went to a formal school. She could have been flying for a major. air carrier. It's just a lot of those. But it frustrates all of us. investigators. >> Understandable. I get it. I understand. And that's what we're trying to do here.

We're trying to separate, you know, speculation from what we seem to know on. the evidence in the investigation. And. one of the questions that I have, like. one of the things that we've been. wondering because we're following this, is it possible the plane was breaking. apart before impact? And if that's where. you get into the idea of those pieces, what would be if that's the case, what. does that tell you about what was. happening to the aircraft as it was. descending? So that it. the elevator may indicate to us that the.

airplane was going supersonic at that. point or very close to it with a lot of. flutter because for a flight control to. break up like that that's usually what. happens. Right? So but again you don't. want to jump into that scenario until. you get a little more details. The metal. on those on those elevators that was. found separated from the airplane, those. are probably getting put together right. now to go under the microscope. They're. going to go under and find out how it. came apart.

What what kind of forces tore that metal. apart? And uh that can be a very telling. find after they see that after you get. that data back. And the horizontal. stabilizer was missing. Where was it. found? you know, I saw us anywhere up to. 3.8 miles away. Well, that tells me that. the stabilizer left the airplane early. Now, I'm glad they found it because they. the the attach points for the stabilizer. will then go under the same microscope. and it'll tell you how that failed. If.

it failed an overload, that meant that. the airplane was going so fast that it. couldn't hold on to the airplane. >> How long does it take to do that. testing? I mean, that's a general. question because I'm sure each component. is tested differently, but when it's. sent to these laboratories out in. Washington DC, how quickly will they get. results back? >> Uh, once they put it and go through all. the the setup for it, the the looking at. it is usually pretty quick. There's some. indications very early. You know, I I. was very fortunate when I was at the.

NTSB. My office was right next to that. laboratory. And maybe you can hear that. in my voice because I I had uh my eyes. were really opened on what those folks. can tell you when they look at the. metal. >> You know, this cockpit voice recorder, uh the records show that one was. installed. They can't confirm though it. was on board. If we don't have that, how. much is that um how much does that hurt. the investigation? a lot. In this case, a lot. All right?

Because ice disappears when you come. back down to the ground. So, everybody. thinks that it was ice related, but. there's no physical proof of that. All. right. We have her words, which. thankfully she said what they were. doing. Her words indicate to us that. they were icing up. that ice at that. altitude and the decision made to climb. is a recipe for bad things. Although we. don't know all of that for sure. We know. he has to climb. We She told us that.

they had ice accumulating and they that. and they were dealing with it which. means the anti- ice system was on. But. why he wanted to climb with with that. kind of storm. Was his radar working? The airplanes have weather radar. Was it. working properly? Was it set properly? There's a lot of variables in there that. if we had the recorder that it may be. able to tell us. I hope they find the. recorder because that information that's. on if it's a a digital recorder, the.

information that's on there could still. be recovered from the chips, but so far. I I don't think they found it and it's. probably going to be pretty destroyed. >> I spoke to another expert who said that. one of the concerns that they're hearing. through this is why the plane was even. in that weather storm or that weather. area. Because in other words, the radar. would tell you to stay 20 miles away or. 10 miles away or what? And so a question. of if you're in that ice patch, why the. need to go higher when was there an. ability to just avoid it altogether? And.

maybe that goes to what you're saying. Was there an issue with the radar and. they didn't see it? >> Yes. Although they could hear it on. frequency and the other airplanes in. front of them were diverting. So there. was a lot of other clues to the to the. crew, the flying pilot. His. decision-making will definitely be. called into question. He was in command. and he was flying. So, it's even more. command on his part why he continued to. fly in that storm. He probably should. have turned off 25 miles earlier. >> Now, again, I don't know the details of.

the communication between the pilots, but I mean, I'd be remiss to not say. that, John, you were featured in uh. Nathan Fielder's uh the rehearsal where. a big question about that is pilot. communication and what goes on there. Um, just generally speaking, do you. agree that there are sometimes issues. between the communication and the pilots. in these kinds of situations? >> No question about it. And it's probably. going to be brought up in this case. because you have a a 20-year-old pilot.

who who appears to be very very uh. skilled in her her task, but you have a. 55 year old male captain. And we know. the male female thing. We know the age. uh differences can have an effect on all. of that. So yes, that's going to be. looked at very very carefully by the. NTSB. >> And to be clear, we don't know again. what those communications were, if there. was anything, if there was an issue. there, but um obviously it needs to be. part of the investigation. Just going. back to one last thing in terms of when.

there could be answers to this, our. understanding is there's a preliminary. report in about 30 days. then they're. going to have more a full determination. about what happened in one or two years. Is that timeline make sense and what. should we be watching out for? >> All right. So the the preliminary report. in 30 days will be factual. No no. analyst, no you know no outcomes. All. right. But they will tell you the facts. that they have up to that point and. that'll include all the pieces that they. found and and physical pieces that they.

found and they've been putting them out. pretty good adding to the what they call. the docket. So that'll be the first one. Now everything goes behind the doors at. the NTSB as they start the microscope. and all the other things that they do. and there's a number. We had upwards. upwards of 20 investigators in Florida. So you know they were digging deep and. far and wide for interviews and all of. that information will be brought. together and start to paint the picture. and the picture may show that we need. more information. So they may have a.

hearing in between this event and the. final report by the NTSB. That hearing. it has two purposes. More factf finding. and questions asked of the parties but. also to put on the record officially. under oath from individuals on. activities by by the controller by the. government. All right. By all the. entities to put it on the record so that. we have a formal document that says this.

is how the airplane was designed. This. is how the air traffic control system. was designed. This is the information. that they need to provide. So we have. all of that on the record so that in the. final analysis if there's deficiencies. in those areas then we can get it. recommendations to address them. >> Yeah. So there two parts of that right. Number one family deserves answers. Family deserves to need to know why. How. did this happen? what was the issue. here? Is there anybody at fault? Is. anybody liable? But then also the the. second component which you mentioned,

you know, how do you avoid this in the. future? How do you prevent something. like this? Were there deficiencies? Were. there mistakes? Because each time. something like this happens, it is a. learning process and trying to. understand how to prevent it in the. future. So, John, I appreciate you. taking the time to to talk to us about. this. Um, you know, give us something. what we should be looking out for. It's. it's a horrible horrible incident and uh. it's heartbreaking on so many different. levels. But look, we're following what. the NTSB is doing and I appreciate you. giving us some time to talk about it. >> Thank you for having me.

>> It's all we have for you right now here. on Cybar. Everybody, thank you so much. for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak. to you next time.