Crash investigators find pieces of doomed Learjet’s tail up to 3.8 miles from Florida crash site

Investigators have said three pieces of the tail of the doomed Learjet that crashed on Sunday had already become detached from the main part of the plane before it struck the ground.

The main crash site of the aircraft, which plummeted into the roadside in Greenacres, Florida, killing all nine people on board, was missing the plane’s left elevator – a piece of the tail used to move the aircraft up and down.

Instead, three fragments were discovered from 1.3 to 3.8 miles away from the impact site, Thomas B. Chapman of the National Transportation Safety Board said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“It tells us that at least some components, some pieces of the aircraft, important pieces of the aircraft separated before the impact,” he said.

“What that means exactly in terms of what caused the aircraft to lose control, or whether the loss of this piece was a result of the forces on the aircraft, we don’t know yet.”

He added, “It’s going to take some more analysis.”

Chapman said Florida’s stormy conditions on Sunday would remain ‘a key focus of the investigation.’

He said storms had continued into Monday, and these had hampered the investigation.

The Learjet 60 departed from Austin–Bergstrom International Airport at 10.37am EST and was travelling to North Eleuthera Airport in The Bahamas.

But by 12.47pm EST crew reported serious trouble after they encountered a powerful thunderstorm cell at 35,000 feet, reported the New York Post.

The crew reported ice and turbulence which reportedly made the aircraft fluctuate by 700 feet before co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras warned they faced an ‘overspeed condition’ with a loss of altitude of around 20,000 feet per minute.

Among the crew’s final haunting words were ‘we’re out of time.’

Other victims of the crash included passengers, Adam Robinson, 45, who founded his company Retention, his wife, Helen Sharp, 40 who ran a PR agency and their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2.

The family’s nanny,

Anita Maria Cetina also died on board, and family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr were also killed.

Pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, died in the crash.

Friends and families of the victims have released statements and spoken to the media about the tragedy.

Filgueiras's stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, told The Wall Street Journal, “All we know is that our daughter is down there, under the ground with that airplane.”

Friend of the co-pilot Mikaela Schluth, who has known Filgueiras since middle school, told CBS she was 'proud' of her.

Schluth said, “She was able to stay calm and give information, up until the last minute,” She described the audio of the crew’s final moments as the “worst thing I've ever heard.”

Investigators said they would be looking at documentation relating to the maintenance of the Learjet.

“At this stage of an investigation are making visits to remote locations remote from the accident site, to gather and document key records, aircraft maintenance, crew records, crew performance, those sorts of things,” he said.

“We have terrific folks,” he added. “I feel confident that they’re going to find the evidence that they need within that crater.”

“Despite the challenges, I feel confident they’re going to find what they need to help put together what happened here and why it happened,” Chapman said.