Federal investigators announced Monday that they have located the cockpit voice recorder from the business jet that crashed in Florida last week under severe weather conditions, killing all nine people aboard. The device was recovered from the wreckage site where the Learjet, bound for the Bahamas, slammed into the ground and burst into flames on Nov. 1, according to a statement posted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on social media.
If the recorder's data can be extracted, it could offer crucial insight into the pilots' communications as they battled turbulence, dealt with ice forming on the wings, and ultimately lost control of the aircraft. The NTSB said the device is now being evaluated at its laboratory in Washington, though it remains unclear whether the recorder was damaged in the crash or was even operational during the flight.
Photographs released by the agency show the recorder's orange metal casing, which aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press appears to be in relatively good condition. "It's very plausible that any info on the recorder survived," Guzzetti said. "If they can recover it, and it's from the accident flight, that will be a huge help to investigators."
Guzzetti noted a precedent: when the NTSB recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a medical transport plane that crashed in Philadelphia in January 2025, killing seven, the device turned out to have likely been non-functional for years. That case underscores the uncertainty surrounding the Florida recorder's potential value.
Witnesses captured dramatic video of the jet plunging nose-first into the ground, and air traffic control recordings preserved the harrowing moments as the pilots realized their fate. However, the voice recorder could illuminate other critical aspects of the crash—particularly why the aircraft appeared to maneuver around a large storm cell only to fly directly into a rapidly intensifying smaller one.
Investigators have already determined that parts of the elevator, a key tail component that controls the plane's pitch, were found more than a mile from the main impact crater, confirming the aircraft began to break apart before hitting the ground. The co-pilot had told air traffic controllers that the plane was being tossed up and down by more than 700 feet and requested an alternative route through the weather system.
The NTSB typically takes 12 to 18 months to complete a crash investigation, though more complex cases can extend longer. The agency's roughly 400 investigators are currently handling more than 1,200 active probes. As part of this inquiry, they will review maintenance records and any prior issues with the aircraft, and they will interview officials at Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, as well as air traffic controllers and personnel at the Austin, Texas airport where the plane departed.
This crash has drawn added attention amid a broader political climate in Florida, where recent election results have shifted the state's landscape. The recovery of the recorder may provide answers for the families of the victims and for aviation safety regulators, who are keen to understand what went wrong in the final minutes of the flight.
