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Co-pilot's initial reassurance gives way to mayday over Florida

CBC's report follows the change from manageable ice and turbulence to a rapid descent, alongside investigators' preliminary evidence of an in-flight breakup.

Channel: CBC News ·

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Copilot warned of ice, turbulence before fatal jet crash in Florida

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:17Jamie Strashin identifies the flight's route from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.
0:46The co-pilot reported ice before the emergency, initially describing the situation as under control.
1:16Air traffic control audio captures the mayday call and a report of rapid descent.
2:30Timothy Monville describes scattered, small debris while cautioning that estimates of the field's dimensions conflict.
2:49Tom Chapman says investigators have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact.

Ice was accumulating and turbulence was jostling the business jet, but the co-pilot initially told air traffic control the situation was under control, according to Canada's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News. The reassurance was followed by a mayday call reporting a rapid descent.

Reporter Jamie Strashin reconstructs that sequence in "Copilot warned of ice, turbulence before fatal jet crash in Florida". CBC reports that all nine people aboard died when the Austin, Texas-to-Bahamas flight crashed in Palm Beach County on Sunday.

The report plays the co-pilot's emergency transmission: "722 Bravo Delta, we're descending 8,000, Mayday, Mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute." The recording documents the deteriorating emergency, but does not establish what caused the crew to lose control.

Cellphone footage shows burning wreckage and a crater in a roadway, with bystanders nearby. Strashin, who says he knows the area, emphasizes how densely populated the surroundings are.

At a briefing included in the report, Timothy Monville, a senior air safety inspector with the National Transportation Safety Board, describes small pieces of wreckage scattered across a broad debris field. He cautions that he is receiving conflicting information about its dimensions.

NTSB board member Tom Chapman gives a preliminary finding: "We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact." That remains an investigative lead, not a determination of why the flight ended in a crash.

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