NTSB Finds "Very, Very Significant" Evidence Miles From Doomed Learjet's Crater Federal investigators have recovered most of the left elevator from the Learjet 60 that slammed into a Greenacres, Florida, neighborhood on Sunday , in three pieces scattered between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site, the clearest sign yet that the jet was coming apart before it hit the ground and killed all nine people aboard.
"Finding that piece is a very, very significant bit of evidence," National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman told reporters Tuesday. The elevator controls the plane's pitch, and Chapman said investigators can't yet say whether losing it caused the loss of control or whether it was torn away by the forces of the dive.
"So it's going to take some more analysis," he said. Even if it had stayed attached, Chapman doubted it would have let the crew pull out at the speed the jet was falling.