00:00It's a warm, clear Sunday morning in Austin, Texas.
00:03A small private jet is rolling out to the runway.
00:06Nine people are on board.
00:07They're flying to E-Luthera, an island in the Bahamas.
00:11Before it gets there,
00:12this jet will fall five miles in one minute.
00:15None of the nine people on board will survive.
00:17By the end of this video,
00:19you'll see how a jet can fall that fast.
00:21We rebuilt the whole flight
00:23from the jet's own tracking data,
00:25the weather radar that day,
00:26and the crew's real radio calls.
00:28The jet is a Learjet, small, fast, and built to fly high.
00:33Its wings are thin and swept back, built for speed.
00:37That shape lets it fly at more than 500 miles an hour.
00:41That's close to the speed of sound.
00:42Remember those wings, they'll matter later.
00:45The Learjet takes off and heads east.
00:47As it flies, it sends out its position and height every second.
00:52Receivers on the ground record it.
00:53That's the tracking data we'll follow.
00:55The jet climbs to 41,000 feet.
00:57That's higher than most airliners fly.
01:00It crosses Texas and Louisiana,
01:02then heads out over the Gulf of Mexico.
01:04For about an hour, there's nothing below it but water.
01:08Ahead, over South Florida,
01:10thunderstorms have been rolling in all morning.
01:12Storm clouds like these can tower as high as this jet flies.
01:15Inside, warm, wet air rushes upward, and other air rushes down.
01:21That's what makes turbulence.
01:22Near the top, it's so cold that the water freezes into tiny ice crystals.
01:27On weather radar, the strongest storms show up red.
01:31Two hours in, the jet crosses Florida's west coast.
01:34Over the Everglades, it turns northeast toward Palm Beach.
01:37Now it's flying in among the storms.
01:40An air traffic controller in Miami starts guiding the flight.
01:43On the controller's screen, the jet is a small tag that shows its height and speed.
01:48On the radio, the jet's name starts with November and ends in Bravo Delta.
01:53Over Palm Beach County, the jet turns east toward the Atlantic.
01:57At that moment, the weather radar shows red just ahead.
02:01November.
02:03Roger, say outside air temperature.
02:05Negative 47 degrees Celsius.
02:07We're managing the ice, but it is moderate turbulence.
02:10We're a direct report.
02:11Jets like this one heat the front edges of their wings and engines to keep ice from building up.
02:17Moderate turbulence is strong enough to throw loose things around the cabin.
02:21Okay, November 722, Bravo Delta.
02:23Roger, let me know if you need anything else.
02:25I'm just working you into my airspace right now.
02:27Roger, 2 Bravo Delta.
02:29Now we're picking up precipitation.
02:30We need to climb 370, April, 2 Bravo Delta.
02:34They ask to climb 2,000 feet, hoping for smoother air.
02:38As they ask, the jet starts to climb.
02:41On the controller's screen, the tag shows it climbing.
02:44November 722, Bravo Delta.
02:46Roger, climb and maintain climb level 370.
02:48Seconds later, the climb stops.
02:50And the jet starts to fall.
02:52Here's the real radio from the next minute.
02:55It's hard to listen to.
02:58722, Bravo Delta.
02:59We're descending 8,000.
03:00Mayday, Mayday.
03:01We're descending 10,000 feet per minute.
03:03November 722, Bravo Delta.
03:05Roger.
03:06Declared emergency.
03:07722, Bravo Delta.
03:09We are in an overseas condition.
03:11Descending 20,000 feet per minute.
03:13November 722, Bravo Delta.
03:15Roger, altitude, your discretion.
03:17Let me know what you need.
03:20We're going to crash into the ground.
03:21722, Bravo Delta.
03:24November 2, Bravo Delta.
03:25I'm here with you.
03:26Talk to me.
03:26We are descending 22,000 feet.
03:29And we are banking 60 degrees.
03:37November 2, Bravo Delta.
03:39Roger.
03:42F**k!
03:42F**k!
03:43Look how tight jets!
03:44Look how tight!
03:46F**k!
03:47We're out of 10...
03:48November 2, Bravo Delta.
03:50November 2, Bravo Delta.
03:52How do you hear?
03:54The jet hit the ground beside a busy road in Palm Beach County.
03:57None of the nine people on board survived.
04:00Five miles in one minute.
04:02How does a jet fall that fast?
04:04Two things the crew said explain it.
04:06Overspeed and banking 60 degrees.
04:09Let's go back to where the climb stopped
04:10and take that minute second by second.
04:13The jet starts to dive.
04:14Ten seconds in, the crew calls Mayday.
04:16It's the most urgent call a pilot can make.
04:19Moments later, the jet is falling 20,000 feet a minute.
04:23That's more than a football field.
04:24Every second.
04:25In the cockpit, the speed reading shoots up.
04:28The crew calls it out.
04:30We are in an overspeed condition.
04:32Overspeed means the jet is past its speed limit.
04:35Up high, a fast jet like this one cruises close to that limit.
04:39So in a dive, it can pass that limit in seconds.
04:42Remember those wings?
04:43Past that limit, the air rushing over them reaches the speed of sound.
04:47And on wings like these, that can push the nose down even more.
04:51Meanwhile, the jet is turning to the right.
04:54About 50 seconds in, the crew says,
04:57And we are banking 60 degrees.
05:01Banking means tipping onto one side.
05:03A jet's wings hold it up with an upward push called lift.
05:07When the jet is level, all of that lift holds it up.
05:10Tipped to 60 degrees, only half of it does.
05:13The rest swings the jet into a turn.
05:15Half isn't enough, so it sinks.
05:17And as it sinks, it speeds up.
05:19Now the dive feeds itself.
05:21Steeper means faster.
05:23And on those wings, faster means steeper.
05:26Pilots call this a spiral dive.
05:28From above, the tracking data draws it.
05:31A curve to the right that keeps getting tighter.
05:33By now, the jet is pointing almost straight down.
05:36It's falling more than two football fields every second.
05:40That's about four times faster than a skydiver falls.
05:43In about one minute, it has fallen five miles.
05:46Seconds later, it hits the ground.
05:49A man who lives nearby said it sounded like a missile.
05:52It came down almost straight.
05:54It narrowly missed the homes and cars around it.
05:57No one on the ground was reported hurt.
05:59Investigators say the jet may have started breaking apart
06:02before it hit the ground.
06:03What started the dive?
06:04The storm?
06:05The ice?
06:06Something wrong with the jet?
06:07They don't know yet.
06:08That morning, nine people took off for an island in the Bahamas.
06:12When the May Day came, that island was about half an hour away.
06:16November 2 Bravo Delta, how do you hear?
06:18Check for up here.
06:21One minute, it's half an hour away.
06:21What happened?
06:21I mean, no, here.
06:21I feel as opposed.
06:21I think it was a conference, but yeah, in the other US.
