A newly released computer-generated simulation is offering a chilling look at what the final moments aboard the Learjet 60 that crashed in Florida may have looked like from the pilots’ perspective.
The Learjet 60 was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas on November 1 when it crashed in Florida, killing all nine people aboard.
The victims were tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44; his wife, Helen Sharp; their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; their nanny, Anita Maria Ramirez Cetina; family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; captain Jeff Gregory, 55; and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20.
Florida plane crash simulation
As the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation, a simulation published on the YouTube channel “This Got Interesting” has reconstructed the aircraft’s final moments, using publicly available flight-tracking information.
The footage shows the plane’s changing position, altitude, ground speed, and flight path. These details were taken from public ADS-B data, while other elements of the reconstruction were created for illustrative purposes.
The channel explains, “Pitch, bank, airspeed, engine gauges, weather and the cockpit details are estimates or illustrations.”
The simulation also uses different voices to recreate an unofficial transcript of the cockpit recording.
One particularly striking detail is just how quickly the aircraft lost altitude. The reconstruction illustrates the descent from 35,000 feet to the ground in a little over a minute. The data trail ended at 8,750 feet, where it recorded the final reading.
Learjet 60 final moments
The video also shows what appear to be pieces separating from the aircraft during its descent. Those moments are visual interpretations.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), investigators recovered most of the Learjet 60’s left elevator in three separate pieces, including “components from both wings, both engines, the flight deck, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, left elevator, aileron sections and multiple flap track assemblies.” The components were found scattered across an area extending as far as 3.8 miles from the crash site.
As investigators work to reconstruct the flight’s final moments, the simulation provides a chilling insight into how the tragic incident unfolded.
Watch it here:
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