# Why the Learjet 60 Crash Left a Crater in Greenacres, Florida - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2118470444315791674 - Source account: [@afg1911a1](https://x.com/afg1911a1) - Source language: English - Duration: 2:57 - Published: 2026-11-06 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida) This jet hit the ground so hard it left a crater in the road. [0:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=4) Why? Let's do the math. On the first of November, twenty twenty-six, a Learjet 60 fell from about ten thousand seven hundred meters over Greenacres, Florida. [0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=14) Nine people were on board. In its last thirteen seconds, the ADS-B data shows it dropping about two hundred fifty-one meters every second, while moving forward at about one hundred twenty-three meters per second. [0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=28) Join those two arrows with Pythagoras, and the speed is about two hundred eighty meters per second. [0:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=33) That's over one thousand kilometers an hour, diving at about sixty-four degrees. [0:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=38) A normal landing touches down at about three meters per second downward. [0:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=42) This was about eighty-four times faster, and the energy doesn't grow with speed, it grows with speed squared. [0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=50) Kinetic energy is one half MV squared. The exact mass isn't published, so we estimate about nine tons. [0:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=58) Half of nine thousand times two hundred eighty squared is about three hundred fifty million joules. [1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=65) That's like six hundred cars hitting a wall at one hundred kilometers an hour, all at the same moment, in one spot. [1:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=73) So how fast does it stop? The jet is about eighteen meters long. [1:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=77) Crushing into the ground, it stops in roughly that distance. [1:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=80) Deceleration is V squared over two D, about two thousand two hundred meters per second squared. [1:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=86) That's more than two hundred twenty G. The whole stop takes about zero point one three seconds, faster than a blink. [1:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=94) Force is mass times acceleration, about twenty million newtons. [1:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=99) That's the weight of two thousand tons pushed into about three square meters. [1:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=103) So the pressure is about six point five million pascals. [1:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=107) Sandy ground under a road is usually designed for only a few hundred thousand. [1:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=111) That's around twenty to thirty times too much. [1:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=114) The ground fails. Soil is pushed down and sideways, the road breaks apart, and a crater opens. [2:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=120) In South Florida, groundwater is close to the surface, and reports said water was found in the crater. [2:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=127) At these forces, a thin aluminum airframe breaks into small pieces. [2:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=131) As one Learjet captain explained, the energy transfer breaks apart the fuselage. [2:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=136) That's why so little wreckage was visible, and part of the tail was found up to six kilometers away, a sign the jet began to break up before impact. [2:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=145) Speed squared, huge energy, a tiny stopping distance, and a pressure the ground can't hold: that's the crater. [2:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=153) The cause of this crash has not been determined. [2:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=156) The NTSB is investigating, and these numbers are our own estimates. [2:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=160) Have a different idea? Share it in the comments. [2:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=163) If you learned something today, please follow and share this video. [2:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=166) Your support helps us make more videos like this. [2:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/ST2f7BhU6t7p/en/why-the-learjet-60-crash-left-a-crater-in-greenacres-florida?t=171) In memory of the nine people on board.