- 12 minutes ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00NTSB launched a GO team to investigate an accident involving a Learjet 60 aircraft operated by Aurora Aviation doing business
00:10as upper jets, and this was a Part 135 operation under the FAA regulations.
00:17The crash occurred on Sunday, November 1st, at approximately 12.51 p.m. Eastern Time.
00:24The plane crashed in Palm Beach County near West Palm Beach.
00:29A team of about 20 NTSB investigators began arriving on Sunday evening to begin the investigation.
00:36Additional NTSB staff arrived today, including myself.
00:41Before I go further, on behalf of all of us at NTSB, I want to express our profound condolences to
00:50the family and friends of those who were lost in this tragedy.
00:53We are truly, truly sorry for your loss.
01:00I want to tell you a little bit about NTSB.
01:03National Transportation Safety Board is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the
01:11United States and significant accidents in railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline.
01:18We also issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents.
01:24Here is what we know.
01:27At about 10.37 Eastern Time, and all of these times will be Eastern Time.
01:32At about 10.37 Eastern Time, the aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport en route to North Eleuthera Bahamas with
01:42nine people on board, two flight crew and seven passengers.
01:46After takeoff, the flight proceeded towards the destination while establishing contact with various ATC facilities along the route of flight.
01:59About 12.47 PM Eastern Time, the crew transmitted to ATC that they were encountering light, clear ice, which was
02:08manageable and also moderate turbulence.
02:12While in contact with Miami Air Route Traffic Center, the crew transmitted that they were at 35,000 feet with
02:20moderate turbulence with altitude deviations of about 700 feet.
02:26The crew reported the outside temperature was minus 47 Celsius, which is minus 53 Fahrenheit, and they were managing the
02:35ice but were in moderate turbulence.
02:39Very soon after, the crew transmitted, we are picking up precipitation, requesting to climb to 37,000 feet if able,
02:48which was approved by FAA air traffic control.
02:53Less than 30 seconds later, a transmission from the airplane announced the descent, followed by a mayday call.
03:00About 12.48 Eastern, the airplane transmitted, we are in an overspeed condition, descending with the rest unintelligible.
03:11Subsequent communications described that the airplane was descending rapidly and gave an altitude call-out.
03:18Sadly, all aboard were lost.
03:22Our investigator in charge is with me here.
03:25His name is Timothy Monville.
03:27I'm going to invite Tim to speak about the structure and process of the investigation.
03:32Mr. Monville is a senior investigator at NTSB with nearly 40 years of experience, and he's leading a multidisciplinary team
03:40of experts.
03:41Tim.
03:42Tim.
03:42Tim.
03:43Tim.
03:43Tim.
03:47So, as the NTSB investigator in charge, I arrived yesterday evening about 7 p.m., immediately consulted with local law
03:57enforcement to identify the scope of the accident site, as well as to identify outlying parts.
04:06From that initial interaction, I came up with an investigative plan to document the parks that are known away from
04:20the main impact site.
04:21And the investigative team for NTSB includes a drone pilot, a systems and structure specialist, recorder specialist, and specialist from
04:33transportation disaster assistance, IT, public affairs, media, and communications.
04:41Additional personnel assisting NTSB include the Federal Aviation Administration, representatives of the airframe manufacturer, Learjet Inc., and possibly the operator
04:55of the aircraft.
04:57In addition to the NTSB specialists away from the site include weather experts and air traffic control experts.
05:06We've just begun our documentation.
05:09We have a lot of work to do on scene.
05:14This will be a several-day process.
05:17And the biggest obstacle that we're going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the
05:25roadway.
05:27Member Chapman.
05:32Thank you, Tim.
05:34We are grateful to the many agencies who responded to this tragedy, too many to list today.
05:40Their efforts are very much appreciated.
05:43I want to especially thank the Palm Beach Sheriff County Sheriff, the Palm Beach, I'm sorry, the Palm Beach County
05:50Sheriff's Office for their assistance and also to Palm Beach County for their assistance and for hosting us here today.
05:58NTSB will be interviewing individuals who witnessed the accident.
06:02We encourage witnesses or those with information relevant to the investigation, such as videos or photographs, to contact the NTSB
06:11by email at witness at ntsb.gov.
06:16And let me repeat that email address.
06:18It's witness at ntsb.gov.
06:22I want to note that if members of the community find debris, please do not move it.
06:29Contact us or local authorities and we will respond appropriately.
06:34In addition to our investigators, we have specialists from our Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance on scene.
06:42They will be working closely with the families and local agencies to provide support to those involved.
06:49Our investigators will work to thoroughly document relevant evidence and gather additional factual information.
06:58Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it
07:07from happening again.
07:08We will not be determining the probable cause of the crash while we're here on scene, nor will we speculate
07:14about the cause.
07:16These are the first steps in a lengthy investigatory process.
07:21Once again, I want to extend our condolences to the families and we are very grateful to the first responders
07:27for their efforts.
07:29With that, I'll take your questions.
07:30If I call on you, please provide your name and also your media affiliation.
07:35Yes, ma'am.
07:35Kate Hesse with WPTV News.
07:37You mentioned the ice and the turbulence, and I know you're not speculating here, but at this point, are you
07:41investigating whether or not that played a factor in the crash?
07:44That's certainly a factor, absolutely.
07:46Yes, sir?
07:47Dr. Curtis with NBC News, thanks for doing this.
07:50When you talk about weather challenges, generally, and certainly the types of challenges that were radioed in from the crew,
07:56what is the responsibility?
07:58How much of the responsibility dealing with those weather challenges falls on the crew versus the aircraft and controllers helping
08:04them from the ground?
08:05Well, that's one of the factual details of how this transpired is exactly what we're trying to determine.
08:11And that's one of the questions that will have to be sorted out in this in terms of who knew
08:16what and when and what actions were taken and whether those actions were appropriate.
08:21Yes, sir?
08:21John Gordon, John's Beverly Community Network. I, too, would like to express my condolences. And as a 60-year member
08:31of the general aviation community, this affects, right?
08:36Sure.
08:38Can I ask you, and I'm not playing Monday morning quarterback at all, but the turn direct to Freeport, was
08:47that issued by ATC or was that a pilot decision?
08:52Before entering the fatal cell?
08:55Tim, I don't have details on that, do you? This may be too early for us to be, I mean,
08:59that gets into the realm of speculation.
09:01It is, Member Chapman. We, again, we've looked and listened to initial audio, but we have not gotten to that
09:09level that we can answer that question specifically and factually.
09:12I, too, listened to the audio and it was not clear to me at all whether it was ATC or
09:18a pilot.
09:19Were they proceeding on a clearance that they earlier had done?
09:23I think we're still determining that. It's still, we're in the very early stages here of the investigation.
09:28One last question to go ahead. Are you at all surprised by the wallet that that relatively small cell appears
09:39to contain?
09:40In my experience as a jet pilot, the Nexrad was depicting it as red, not dark red or purple.
09:52I don't think that I would have been terribly reluctant to have flown through that.
09:58Well, the weather conditions are a major focus of the investigation.
10:02You all saw what the weather was like here at the surface.
10:06What we have to determine is what the weather conditions were like at altitude.
10:09They were at about 35,000 feet, and that's still something that has to be determined.
10:15Yes, sir.
10:16David O'Brien, New York Times, is there any indication that the plane's control surface, like the horizontal stabilizer, may
10:22have come off and been compromised in that end part?
10:26They may have. We do have some evidence that there was some break-up of the aircraft before impact.
10:31We're still seeking to determine that. Yes, ma'am?
10:34Terry Parker, WPBF 25. Do you think that given the impact of this crash that the black box will be
10:43intact and he will be able to retrieve some of this very valuable information from it?
10:47It's a two-part question. First, was there a black box?
10:50Our indication early here from aircraft maintenance records is that a cockpit voice recorder was installed on this aircraft.
10:59What we don't know is whether that recorder was still on board.
11:02Sometimes these things change over time, so we're still seeking to determine whether there was a recorder.
11:09And then, of course, we're very hopeful that we can recover it.
11:12Too early to know, but that'll be very important data.
11:16Without it, will you be somewhat stymied in this investigation?
11:19Well, we'll be better off with it. Without it, our folks are very, very good.
11:24We're still able to do some incredible detective work and determine how things transpired.
11:30Yes, sir?
11:31I want to ask you about the audio that we've heard.
11:35It's a female voice. We know now to be a 20-year-old co-pilot.
11:39And a lot of speculation on social media, even the NASA administrator, speaking out seemingly in her defense because of
11:46some speculation out there.
11:47What can you tell us right now that you know about, with what you know right now, what would the
11:53role of the co-pilot on the audio recording have been in the midst of all this?
11:58Would she have been at the controls or simply remote communication?
12:00We don't yet know that, and that is one of the things that we'll seek to determine.
12:05Yes, sir, in the back.
12:05Very much with Local 10.
12:07Ethan, with Channel 9, the weather at the surface, what challenges will that create in your investigation at this point?
12:13Well, I know Tim was saying one of the problems right now is that the crater, there's water in the
12:18crater.
12:19So some of this is just the logistics of being able to access the records.
12:23So there will definitely be some challenges involving the weather.
12:27And, of course, we don't know what the weather is going to be like over the next couple of days.
12:30I'm from Washington.
12:31I know you all live here locally.
12:33I'm told that the weather has been pretty crazy here lately.
12:36So that's something we're going to be concerned about.
12:38Yes, sir?
12:39Roy Ramos with Local 10 News.
12:40When the pilot was making transmissions about gathering precipitation, is the right maneuver to climb to 40,000 feet as
12:48they requested?
12:48That is a maneuver.
12:51I don't know that I would describe it as the right maneuver, but it's certainly one of the possible maneuvers.
12:56Yes.
12:58Yes, ma'am?
12:59Lauren Fox, you know, Miami Herald.
13:01Were planes cleared to take off from airports nearby at the time of the crash?
13:06I don't know that, Tim.
13:07I think we're still seeking to determine what the circumstances were at the local airports.
13:12I don't know how much of a factor that would be because this aircraft was en route, but that's one
13:17of the things we'll look at.
13:18And do you know if the Learjets are prone to these types of accidents?
13:22I don't believe we have any indication that there's a history of this type of accident with this model of
13:28aircraft, Tim.
13:29No, I have no personal knowledge.
13:32That could be statistically documented within our agency, but at this moment I don't have any information about that.
13:39We'll certainly look for trends not only with this model of aircraft.
13:43I'm not aware of any right now, but we'll look at that.
13:45But also with this specific aircraft, too, whether there's any history.
13:49Yes, ma'am?
13:52How big is the debris field and were there any injuries at all on the ground?
13:57Tim, I'm going to let you take that one.
14:00Okay.
14:02So there was a gentleman, I understand.
14:05I've learned today that he was in a vehicle that was leaving the immediately adjacent impacted area, and he sustained
14:13a leg injury.
14:15He was going to be interviewed today and understand the extent of his injuries.
14:18That's all I've been made aware of in terms of injuries.
14:21And I'm sorry, the other part of the question.
14:23The size of the debris field.
14:25I'm getting conflicting information.
14:26It's, you know, half mile by four tenths of a mile, right?
14:31But it's scattered among ball fields, businesses, personal residences, and the debris is rather small.
14:41And as I indicated, we do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact.
14:49And so some of this is yet to be determined.
14:52We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.
14:57Have you all been able to find pieces of the tail that appeared to maybe have come off?
15:02I don't think we're far enough along here to know what we've found.
15:06We're finding debris, but we haven't identified parts yet.
15:12Yes, sir?
15:13Chris Benavida, CBS News.
15:14I'm wondering, can you explain what you guys hope is salvageable given the impact of the crash?
15:20Well, that's going to be a real challenge, and I think you've seen the video.
15:25That is going to be a real challenge.
15:26And, Tim, I know that you and your team, that's one of the things that's going to be daunting.
15:31And do you know anything about the speed that the aircraft was going before it hit the ground?
15:36Not yet.
15:36High rate of speed, obviously, but not yet in terms of any kind of precise numbers.
15:41For the people that have been displaced in that area, do you have any message for them,
15:45and how long will they not be allowed to go back to their homes?
15:48We're working to do the work that we need to do to complete in order to ensure that access
15:57can be opened up there as quickly as we possibly can.
16:01I don't want to try to speculate on the time frame, because some of this, again,
16:04is we've just got logistical problems with, you know, the weather and the...
16:09But we understand the challenges for those folks, and we want to do our work as quickly as we can
16:15so that the access to the neighborhood can be reestablished.
16:19The last question.
16:21Yes, sir.
16:22Captain, Steve Arroyo, Aviation News Updates.
16:25Can you confirm that the aircraft actually flew through an active thunderstorm?
16:30We can't confirm that yet, but obviously that's something that we're going to try to determine.
16:34Thank you all very much.
16:35We appreciate your interest.