Learjet 60 Crash Over Florida: Final Radio Calls and Investigation

What would the pilots aboard this Learjet 60 have felt in the moments before the crash?

Seven-two-two Bravo Delta, three-five-zero, moderate turbulence, plus or minus, okay, now seven hundred feet, six hundred feet.

Two pilot, seven passengers, thirty-five thousand feet above Florida.

Negative forty-seven degrees Celsius. We're managing the ice, but it is moderate turbulence.

We're direct report. The crew reported ice and turbulence, moving the jet by seven hundred feet.

Cumulonimbus were building. Investigators still don't know if the jet flew into one.

Roger, two Bravo Delta. Now we're picking up precipitation.

We need to climb, um, three-seven-zero, able, two Bravo Delta.

The climb was approved. Climb three-seven-zero, two Bravo Delta.

Less than thirty seconds later, they declared an emergency.

Seven-two-two Bravo Delta, we're descending eight thousand-- Mayday, mayday, we're descending ten thousand feet per minute.

November seven-two-two Bravo Delta, roger.

Declaring emergency, seven-two-two Bravo Delta.

We are in an overspeed condition, descending twenty thousand feet per minute.

A normal descent is about two thousand feet a minute.

This jet passed thirty-two thousand. That's an Eiffel Tower every two second.

Overspeed means faster than the jet is allowed to fly.

One early estimate, unverified, is close to seven hundred miles an hour.

November seven-two-two Bravo Delta, roger.

Altitude your discretion. Let me know what you need.

We're gonna crash into the ground, seven-two-two Bravo Delta.

So what caused it? The NTSB hasn't named a cause.

Experts point to storm tops, ice, or losing control at high altitude, and investigators have some evidence the jet began breaking up before impact.

November two Bravo Delta, I'm here with you.

Talk to me. We are descending twenty-two thousand feet, and we are banking sixty degrees.

Still talking, still calling out the numbers.

November two Bravo Delta, roger.

Holy , we're out of time. November two Bravo Delta.

November two Bravo Delta, how do you hear?

November two Bravo Delta, my- So what would they have felt?

In that last minute, they knew. You can hear it.

But impact is different. At that speed, the jet covers three hundred meters a second.

The impact reaches the cockpit in about ten milliseconds.

The fastest pain nerves carry signals at thirty meters a second.

In ten milliseconds, that's thirty centimeters.

The brain's first response to pain takes around a hundred and twenty milliseconds.

A blink takes about a hundred and... It was over before the signal could reach the brain.

As far as the science can tell us, they most likely felt nothing.

Rest in peace to all nine souls lost that day.