Disturbing New Details in Florida Learjet Crash

A private jet cruising at 35,000 ft when. suddenly the crew sends out a mayday. call. And not even [music] 30 seconds. later, it is plunging toward the ground. at 20,000 ft per minute. >> We do have some indication that the. aircraft was breaking up before impact. [music]. >> Why did this happen? What caused this. Learjet to simply fall out of the sky? We're breaking down the terrifying final. moments and the [music] key pieces of. evidence that investigators say will be. critical to this case and whether there.

are any legal [music] implications of. such a tragedy. >> We're very hopeful that we can recover. it. Too early to know, but that'll be. very important. >> [music]. >> uh data. >> Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, got a lot of new information to. cover in this Palm Beach jet crash that. is absolutely horrifying and honestly it. is really really chilling. There's no. other way to say it. It is just.

incredibly incredibly sad. So, nine. people are dead after a private jet. suddenly plunged from 35,000 ft and. slammed into a Florida roadway. And we. now know the identities of the pilots. We have 20-year-old Natalyia Gadellha. Faggeras and Captain Jeff Gregory. This. is according to family members who came. forward to identify them. And we are. also learning more about the passengers. on board. Though to give you a note. here, we're awaiting official. confirmation from the medical examiner.

and authorities, but we'll let you know. what the reporting suggests. But we have. gotten a real look at what happened in. the final terrifying seconds via a. cockpit audio that was released by air. traffic control and even video that was. captured on dash cam of this crash. And. this is all as authorities continue to. investigate what went so. catastrophically wrong. So let's start. with Natalya. Okay. And she was by what. we're learning not your average. 20-year-old. >> Arcadia traffic Bonanza 710 for Bravo.

one mile final two for Arcadia. >> According to her family, she earned her. pilot's license at 17. That's before she. could even legally drive. She had logged. more than,300 hours of flight time. She. worked for this company called Upper. Jets. It's a private charter company. Worked there for about 9 months. And her. family says that she wanted to be a. pilot since she was 12 years old. Her. sister Julia spoke to reporters outside. their home in Boca Raton. And what she. said is heartbreaking. She called her.

sister a brave, amazing girl who always. followed her dreams. She said Natalya. quote fought until the last moment she. could. Her mother, Camila Cortileleti, told the New York Post and the New York. Times that her daughter was a. trailblazer, someone who quote showed. any girl could do what it takes. And. here's a detail that's come out that is. really hard to shake. The New York Post. spoke with her stepfather, Thiago. Cordeli, who told them that Natalyia. apparently texted her boyfriend, who's.

also a pilot, at around 12:40 p.m. Sunday. That is 10 minutes before the. crash. And she told him she was. experiencing turbulence and icing. Stepfather told the Post, quote, "She. just said, I've got turbulence. I've got. ice." And that is reportedly the last. known communication from her. Now, we. should note that officials haven't. officially identified the rest of the. victims on the plane yet. The Palm Beach. County Medical Examiner's Office told. USA Today that they're still working to.

identify all nine people on board. That. DNA collection is part of that process. But what we do know is that the plane. was carrying seven passengers and two. crew members. And then we get to the. cockpit audio, which is. incredibly difficult to listen to. Okay. And I'm just going to tell you right. now, we're only going to play this very. short clip from the moment when the crew. realized they were in trouble. >> We're descending 8,000. Mayday, mayday. We're descending 10,000 ft per minute. >> Yeah, that is the voice of the crew. And. from there, it gets even more harrowing.

It is heartbreaking. The rest is just. frankly too difficult to listen to. But. you can hear Natalya reacting as the. plane goes down. And according to the. New York Post who enhanced this audio, there is a man on board who appears to. be heard reciting the Lord's Prayer. Dash cam video from a driver captured. the crash in this really really. unthinkable video. We we we won't show. you that part, but these were just the.

brief seconds that were captured. following the impact. That was a. something just fell down. >> So what does the MTSB say? The National. Transportation Safety Board. So they're. saying that weather is a major focus. right now. The crew reported icing, what. they were calling manageable clear ice, moderate turbulence. >> The weather conditions are a major u. focus of the investigation. You all saw.

what the weather was like here at the. surface. Uh what we have to determine is. what the weather conditions were like at. altitude. They were at about 35,000 ft. And that's still something that has to. be determined. >> I got to say something because this just. happened. I don't know about you, but I. hate making doctor's appointments. I. wish it was easier. I don't want to deal. with voicemails. I don't want to deal. with the endless phone tag and then when. I finally get through, the doctor that I. want to see isn't even in network. Right? How many times does it happen to. you? Now, here's the good news. This. episode is sponsored by Zakdoc. So, Zachdoc is a free app and website that.

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find parts of the aircraft some distance. away from the actual impact site. I. don't think we're far enough along here. to know what we found. We're we're. finding debris, but we we're not we. haven't identified uh parts yet. >> So, that's a massive clue as. investigators are trying to figure out. how this jet at 35,000 ft suddenly. started coming apart. And that's what I. want to get into. I want to get into. what the potential evidence is, where. this investigation is going to go, and. also whether there are any legal. ramifications to all this. So, to help.

us walk through all this, I want to. bring on Justin Green, a prominent. aviation analyst, attorney, perfect. guest to talk about this. Justin, thanks. for taking the time. This is a a tragic. situation. This is a heartbreaking. situation. And we're trying to. understand, of course, we're trying to. understand where this investigation is. going to go, what they're trying to. find. When you hear the NTSB saying. there was evidence of the plane breaking. apart before impact, when you hear the. crew reporting icing and turbulence,

what does that tell you about what might. have happened here? >> Well, the the first thing that I think. is going to be a fact is that the. airplane flew into a a thunderstorm, basically a very strong storm cell. And. that was a mistake which exposed the. aircraft to a number of different risks. One of which is uh icing. And they did. report having some clear ice and. managing ice and wanting to climb up. higher to avoid ice. But they also. encountered turbulence. Um and so one of.

the things that the investigators are. going to have to determine is if um the. aircraft broke apart and early. indications that there was a breakup. before impact. But then more I think as. important is when so did the aircraft. break up in the storm cell because of. turbulence or did it break up break. apart as it was descending at at those. horrific angle of attacks and high. speeds. And I think part of that's going. to be where is the wreckage found? So if.

if all the wreckage is found uh in the. in the the giant hole that was created. um then that would indicate that it. broke up in the dive. um if it's found. miles away, it would indicate that it. likely broke up um as part of the the an. early accident sequence. >> Let me just a couple things to talk. about there. Is a is a plane in that. position in that storm typically break. up? Because one of the questions that I. have is is there a structural issue with.

the plane? Should it not break into. pieces even in those kinds of. conditions? There's a like a old. expression, you know, mother nature. always wins and you cannot create an. airplane that uh turbulence can't uh. break apart if the turbulence is is is. great enough. And so one of the most. important things that pilots learn is. you don't fly into thunderstorms. Um, so I I think the answer is there's. really no indication of a pre-existing.

structural issue with this particular. airplane, but you you can't build an. airplane that is impervious to weather. um because otherwise it'd be too heavy. to fly. >> So when you say it was a mistake to fly. into that storm, you're suggesting who. who made the mistake. >> Well, that's part, you know, that's. going to be part of what the NTSB looks. into. So what we what we're going to. find out pretty soon is what happened. Um so they have the the track of the. aircraft. They have the communications.

between the aircraft and air traffic. control. They have the flight plan. They. have other uh important evidence. The. bigger issue is why it happened. Did the. pilots make a mistake in their flight. planning? Did did the storm um you know, I guess come up so quickly that they. they really didn't have options? Did air. traffic control fulfill its. responsibilities uh to the to the flight. crew? You know, the investigation is. going to be looking towards not just. what happened, but why it happened. And. the timeline's going to be very. important. >> But there is a possibility there could.

be a reasonable explanation for why the. crew would have felt it necessary to fly. in that direction and maybe gotten the. go-ahad, the green light to do so. >> I mean, it is possible. You know, the. other issue is is could they have turned. around once they started encountering. the turbulence that they reported or the. icing that they reported or as they. ultimately did, should they have asked. to climb higher to get up over um the. storm? Um so, it's going to be it's. going to really focus and and one of the.

unfortunate things is because of the the. nature of the impact and the damage to. the aircraft, the wreckage may not tell. much of of what happened. I mentioned. before that if parts of the aircraft are. not located, you know, with with the. main wreckage, that that will indicate. something. I have a suspicion that, for. example, the cockpit voice recorder may. not be salvageable because of the very. high u g- loads and and impact that that. the aircraft experienced. >> Then how is the medical examiner going.

to do a DNA recovery, DNA testing? It's. it's it's I I think that it's very. likely that brace uh remains will be. found and that's not uncommon in in. different accidents. Uh you know, usually one or two passengers might not. be um identified, but in this case it. may be that nobody is ultimately. identified. >> So this Learjet belonged to Aurora. Aviation. It's the private company that. it's apparently doing business as Upper. Jets. From a legal perspective, are they.

potentially facing any fault here? Are. they potentially facing any liability? >> The pilots, you know, if they're working. for this company, um the company's. responsible for any negligence that the. pilots um you know, you know, any. provable negligence of the pilots. If. there's a maintenance issue, which I. right now there's really no indication, again, they they may be be liable. I. think it's probably too soon to to talk. about responsibility. Um, but the the.

main targets of a of a weather related. uh accident usually is the the pilots, the operator and the Federal Aviation. Administration who's responsible for the. air traffic control. >> Well, potential liability could be. hiring. So again, right, the idea of if. this was a mistake, and I'm not. suggesting, but if it turns out there. was some sort of error on the part of. the pilot or pilots, then the company. that employed them would have a duty in. terms of how they hired and did a. background check on on those pilots.

Correct. >> Yes. And and you know, usually it'll be. identified, the pilots, for example, would be identified in the insurance. policy. So the insurance policy may have. a requirement for example that the. pilots undergo uh certain types of. training you know manufacturer provided. uh training or a very periodic uh you. know training that's that's required. So. the owner of the aircraft, the man, the. operator of the aircraft is responsible. for any sort of pilot negligence or and. that would include whether these pilots.

were um I guess capable for this type of. operation. >> and not suggesting anything otherwise. Not suggesting that they were negligent, not suggesting it was a fault on their. own whatsoever, but these are some of. the questions that are going to have to. be explored. Now, here's the timeline. that the NTSB laid out. It's incredibly. tight before everything went horribly. wrong. So, I want to take a quick. listen. >> We are picking up precipitation, requesting to climb to 37,000 ft if. able, which was approved by FAA air.

traffic control. Less than 30 seconds later, a. transmission from the airplane announced. the descent followed by a Mayday call. About 12:48 Eastern, the airplane. transmitted, "We are in an oversp speed. condition, descending with the rest. unintelligible." So Justin, explain to. us what that means. You have this oversp. speed condition at that altitude. What. does that actually mean for a LAR jet 60. when you're hearing the descent rate may.

have hit 20,000 ft per minute? Is that. even survivable structurally? I mean, what are you taking away from that? >> It's it's I mean, it's ultimately not. survivable. It's it's beyond how the. design of the airplane is is essentially. put together to be able to handle. So. that's one of the one of the comments um. or one of the issues that they're going. to look at is if there was a break. apart, did the break apart occur in this. very high level overspeed dive where.

where all of the different elements of. the aircraft are being overstressed or. did it happen? Does it precipitate the. the dive? Did did a turbulence break off. something that caused the dive? Now, one. of the things that I think is is really. might ultimately tell a lot of the story. is they talk about precipitation. Well, they're at they're a very high altitude. The outside temperature is way below. zero. So they really shouldn't be um. picking up ice at that at that.

temperature unless. um the storm is bringing up warmer water. precipitation which would then freeze. instantly when it hits the when it hits. the the surfaces of the airplane. So. that that's that's really one of the. things that they're going to be trying. to determine is how bad was the icing. and you know they were they were they. reported icing and turbulence. So those. are the two main suspects. Turbulence. can rip an airplane apart. Icing can. make it unflinable.

>> Here's something else that was brought. up that could potentially be a gamecher. >> Our indication early here from uh. aircraft maintenance records is that a. cockpit voice recorder was installed on. this aircraft. What we don't know is. whether that recorder was still on. board. Uh sometimes these things change. over time. So, we're still seeking to. determine whether there was a recorder. and then of course we're very hopeful. that we can recover it. Too early to. know, but that'll be very important uh. data. >> Justin, explain to us again why the.

recorder is so important. Is it. standard? Is it required that the. recorder be on board? And uh I know you. touched upon this as well, but how. easily will it be recovered if at all? So again, why is it important? Is it. required to be on every aircraft? And. what can it and um you know, what uh. what are the ability to recover it? So, so right now, you know, we have the. communications between the aircraft and. air traffic control. What what we be. hearing about on on the cockpit voice. recorder or or the intracockpit.

discussions between the two pilots and. that could be uh discussions saying, "Hey, we should go around the weather or. hey, this is sudden weather in front of. us." So, so a lot of a lot of the. cockpit voice recorder is going to. really get us into the minds of the. pilots, help us understand what they. were seeing, what they were thinking, if. they if they voice what they were. thinking, and it gives us a really. insight to to what happened. Unfortunately, um, cockpit voice.

recorders and flight data recorders are. usually kept in crash protective, uh, devices, but I I have a feeling that. that there's not going to be ultimately. a recovery because of the very very high. impact uh, that this aircraft suffered. >> Will they know and let's say they do. recover it, would we know who had. control of the plane at that time, whether it was the pilot or the. co-pilot? Yeah, I think I think it's I. think from the air traffic control um. usually the pilot that's speaking to air.

traffic control is not the flying pilot. So, it's very likely that the co-pilot. um who was communicating with air. traffic control was not at the controls. Also, in the last second, she talks. about looking outside to the other. pilot. It indicates to me that that the. other the pilot in command, which I. believe is a is a male, I think he was. flying. Now, according to the uh BBC, this impact was so violent, so intense, it left a massive crater in the road.

About 600 people from a nearby mobile. home community, these residents had to. be evacuated. They still don't know when. they're going to be allowed back home. Look, this is sidebar. We talk about. potential legal issues. I'm thinking, you know, do they have a legal claim? you know, do they have a a potential. lawsuit that they can file uh against, you know, I don't know, again, I don't. know who it would be. It would be. against maybe the aircraft operators to. say, "Look what happened." You know, again, going back to some of the issues. we talked about, but I think that they. may have a claim.

>> Yeah, it it's 100% they do. Thank god um. nobody was on the ground was killed. That's not always the case. Uh this this. could have been much worse. uh just with. the aircraft, you know, crashing. closer, you know, to to on the road with. with people uh in cars or into the into. the uh community itself. Um anyone who. has a has suffered a property damage or. personal injury or anything like that. would would have a potential claim. And.

in a case like this, they may be. competing with the claims of of the. passengers who lost their lives. >> Let's talk about that. So, let me say. this. As I mentioned, while the medical. examiner's office hasn't officially. confirmed the identities of those on. board that flight, there was a joint. statement that was released from the. families of some of these victims and it. was posted online and it is absolutely. heartbreaking and it reveals who these. people are. In that statement, the. families confirm the identities of Adam. Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their.

two young children, Emma, four years. old, Charlie 2 years old. There's also. Rachel Reed and Charma Fair. And there's. also the family's nanny, Anita Maria. Centina. She was also on board. The. statement reads in part, quote, "Adam. and Helen were devoted parents, and Emma. for 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. They also remembered Anita saying she. quote cared for Emma and Charlie with. tenderness and devotion, and she was. truly part of the family. She showed us. a legacy of unconditional love and. devotion. And the families also extended.

their condolences to the pilots's. family, saying their hearts are also. with the families of the pilots and are. grieving alongside us. Justin, we also. learned something new about the. co-pilot. The the AP reports that her. license showed she had the rating to fly. that model of Learjet not to be in. command of the flight. We talked about. maybe whether she had in control or not, but it's a significant detail that. people are talking about and I think. it's going to be part of the. investigation, right? They're going to. look at everything about the two pilots, their training, their qualifications,

how they spent, you know, the the the 24. hours before the flights to see if. there's any sort of fatigue issue. involved. Um hopefully they'll recover. the flight data recorder and the cockpit. voice recorder that will kind of give. key evidence, but ultimately in this. case, I I think we we probably have a. lot of the key evidence already. I don't. think we're going to see a lot from the. wreckage. The flight planning documents. and the communications with air traffic. control are going to be really key. >> When will we know what happened? When. will we know the cause of the crash? How.

long does an investigation like this. take? >> Well, the NTSB um in a case like this. will take over a year. Um it may be up. to two years to do the investigation. They'll issue what's known as a. preliminary report. Um I think the. preliminary report is going to talk. about um some of the issues that have. already made the news. um about the. weather and about the what exactly. happened with the air traffic control. communications and the pilots's uh. request to climb. Um but it's going to. be quite a while before we get the full.

story on this. >> Justin Green, thanks for taking the. time. I appreciate [snorts] your. perspective. I wish we weren't talking. uh under these circumstances. It is a. horrible, horrible story and our. thoughts, our prayers are with the. families as they're trying to just. process what happened this week. Thank. you so much for taking the time, sir. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse, and God. bless them. >> It's all we have for you right now here. on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much. for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. [music]. I'll speak to you next time.