Footage was shared online showing the moment of the crash (Image: AP)
An aviation expert has described a ‘perfect storm of trouble’ as the driving force behind the Learjet crash that claimed the lives of nine people. A number of ‘crucial errors’ may have played a role in the devastating incident, according to another specialist.
The aircraft came down near US President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Largo estate on Sunday, killing all those on board, including two young children. As investigators attempt to establish what triggered the tragedy, aviation lawyer Zachary Gorwitz outlined the possibility that several contributing factors were involved.
“This was kind of the perfect storm of trouble,” said Mr Gorwitz. “You had turbulence. You had icing. You had precipitation. And you had incredibly tall thunderstorms that seem to have formed very quickly.”
Once an aircraft enters a nosedive and begins breaking apart, the pilot is left with virtually no options. “At that point, I’m sure the pilot was trying to pull back on the controls and get the nose up, but I’m sure at that speed and that angle, it just wasn’t possible,” Mr Gorwitz said, reports the Daily Star.
The aircraft plummeted to the ground before exploding (Image: Getty)
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is examining all factors that could have contributed to the crash. Seasoned pilot Justin Crabbe has highlighted a number of human errors he believes may have played a part in the catastrophe.
Mr Crabbe also serves as CEO of Jettly, a charter-flight booking platform, which had Sunday’s Learjet 60 listed on its books. “They certainly should have gone around [the storm],” Mr Crabbe told the New York Post.
“[Air-traffic control] gave them the flexibility to deviate around that weather,” he said, suggesting the crew bypassed an alternative route due to their eagerness to land in the Bahamas.
“It’s a theory called ‘get-there-itis’, and flight schools teach you this very early on,” Mr Crabbe said. “It’s a risk factor. You have to sit back as a pilot and understand what is pushing you to do this trip, this manoeuvre, this journey in a way that may compromise the safety of the flight.”
Having navigated through the storm, co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras requested air traffic control raise the aircraft’s altitude by 2,000 feet, amid reports of freezing conditions and moderate turbulence.
Ice accumulates on an aircraft when it passes through clouds or rainfall containing supercooled water droplets, which freeze upon contact with the wings.
This build-up can distort the shape of the wing, diminishing the aircraft’s lift, while increasing drag and stall speed, and rendering the plane considerably harder to handle.
The plane left a smouldering crater on a Florida road (Image: Eduin Cruz/FB)
Although the Learjet involved in the disaster was equipped with a de-icer, Mr Crabbe noted that attempting to climb out of danger may have contributed to the tragedy. “They tried to ascend to get to clearer air, which may have been one of the contributing factors toward accelerating that stall,” he said.
This left the pilot with just two choices: climb and face the danger of a stall, or plunge deeper into the storm and risk further ice accumulation. “It’s extremely easy to say this from the ground and from a position of safety,” Mr Crabbe said of the options.
Data from NOAA disclosed that even had the aircraft managed a desperate last-gasp climb, it may have made little difference to the outcome.