# Learjet 60 Crash: Weather, Ice and the Sudden Dive - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119201729699045606 - Source account: [@afg1911a1](https://x.com/afg1911a1) - Source language: English - Duration: 2:48 - Published: 2026-11-07 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive) The pilots had already spotted the bad weather, and they were trying to get away from it. [0:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=4) So why did this jet drop from over thirty-five thousand feet to eight thousand seven hundred and fifty feet in about a minute? [0:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=10) Let's rebuild what happened and break it down. [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=12) On November first, a Learjet 60 was flying from Texas to The Bahamas. [0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=16) Over Florida, it came down from forty-one thousand feet to thirty-five thousand feet. [0:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=21) Here's the thing: A thunderstorm isn't just rain inside it. [0:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=24) Violent updrafts and downdrafts can shove a plane up or down without warning, and onboard weather radar mostly sees rain, not every dangerous gust. [0:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=32) The weather company MyRadar estimates that a nearby storm's top grew from thirty-three thousand feet to forty-eight thousand feet in about twenty minutes. [0:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=39) That peak was measured after the crash, but it shows how fast the sky was changing. [0:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=43) The jet flew on. The crew reported moderate turbulence, minus forty-seven degrees outside, and said they were dealing with ice. [0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=50) They asked air traffic control if there was a smoother altitude ahead. [0:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=53) Why is ice dangerous? It's not the weight. [0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=55) When ice builds up on a wing, it changes the wing's shape, messes up the airflow, and makes a stall more likely. [1:01](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=61) And here's something odd: The crew reported clear ice, which usually forms from supercooled liquid droplets. [1:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=66) But at minus forty-seven, those droplets are extremely rare. [1:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=69) Why they reported clear ice, nobody knows yet. [1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=72) Soon after, the crew said they'd hit precipitation and asked to climb to thirty-seven thousand feet. [1:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=76) Controllers approved it, but higher isn't always safer. [1:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=79) Every plane has a speed window, a minimum and a maximum. [1:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=82) The minimum is stall speed. Wings need air rushing over them to hold the plane up. [1:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=86) The higher you go, the thinner the air, so you have to fly faster to grab enough of it. [1:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=90) Climb, and your minimum speed creeps up. [1:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=91) The maximum is about the speed of sound. [1:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=93) Get too close, and shock waves form on the wing. [1:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=96) The plane shakes and pitches down. One line rises, the other comes down. [1:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=99) Up high, the gap gets narrow. Where the two lines nearly touch, pilots have a name for it: The Coffin Corner. [1:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=105) That doesn't mean this jet was in the coffin corner, but it shows that climbing up high means thinking about more than just the weather overhead. [1:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=111) Right after the climb was approved, the jet rose briefly, then banked hard to the right and started dropping fast. [1:56](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=116) A mayday came over the radio. The crew reported descending ten thousand, then twenty thousand feet per minute, an overspeed, and a steep bank. [2:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=123) A sudden turn and drop like that makes people think of a stall. [2:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=126) A stall isn't the engines quitting. It's the wing meeting the air at too steep an angle. [2:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=130) The airflow peels off, lift collapses, and the plane can go out of control. [2:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=133) And once the nose is pointing down, a jet picks up speed incredibly fast. [2:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=137) Past its design limit, shock waves form on the wing. [2:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=140) The lift shifts backward, and the nose gets pulled down even harder. [2:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=142) The pilots have to pull out, but pull too hard and the airframe can't take it. [2:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=146) Pull too gently, and you can't catch the speed. [2:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=148) But whether this was a stall or whether it unraveled this way can't be determined from public tracking data alone. [2:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=153) So what turned a normal flight into an uncontrollable dive in about a minute? [2:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=156) That's the question investigators now have to answer. [2:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=159) Nine people were on board. None of them survived. [2:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/yNssDTORzzO7/en/learjet-60-crash-weather-ice-and-the-sudden-dive?t=162) Our thoughts are with their families. Follow me, I'll break down the next one too.