The heartbreaking reason a couple travelling with their young children, nanny and family friends, boarded the doomed private Learjet bound for the Bahamas has been revealed. Tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, and his wife, ceramicist Helen Sharp, 40 and their two children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two, were heading to the tropical destination for a birthday celebration. The group planned to spend around a week celebrating Robinson’s birthday, sources with direct knowledge claimed to TMZ. Texas-native Robinson had chartered the $2 million Learjet from Austin before it nose-dived and crashed in a fireball in Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people on board.
Bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the private jet plummeted 25,000ft in just over a minute before crashing into a street just nine miles from President Trump’s Mar-a-largo estate. In the days leading up to the tragedy, Robinson reportedly told his friend Jesse that his life was “going too well”, as his startup businesses expanded, the US news outlet reports.
Robinson was a technology entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of Retention.com and RB2B, technology companies focused on helping businesses identify visitors to their websites. Also killed were family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, who owned Arca Roatán Boutique Hotel, a luxury beachfront hotel in Honduras.
Flight captain, Jeff Gregory, 55 and 20-year-old copilot Nathalia Filgueiras also died in the crash. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Tom Chapman said most of the left elevator — part of the tail that controls the aircraft’s pitch — was found in three pieces between 1.3 miles from Greenacres, near West Palm Beach.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Chapman said: “What that means exactly, in terms of what caused the aircraft to lose control, or whether the loss of this piece was a result of the forces on the aircraft, we don’t know yet.” However, officials have not yet determined whether that contributed to the crash or happened as the plane broke apart. Chapman also revealed on Monday that investigators are probing as to whether parts of the jet began breaking apart mid-air.
The NTSB added it would also investigate what role ice and turbulence played in the crash as heavy rain swept across the region on Sunday. According to air traffic control recordings, ice was accumulating on the jet and turbulence was jolting it by as much as 700 feet (213 metres).
Co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras can be heard issuing a mayday call as she reports the plane is descending 10,000 feet per minute.
She then said the plane was in an “overspeed condition” and descending 20,000 feet per minute, saying: “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
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