Federal investigators have recovered a major section of the tail from the Learjet 60 that crashed in Greenacres, Florida, killing all nine people aboard. The discovery, made miles from the crash site, is providing investigators with important new clues about the aircraft’s final moments.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on November 3 that most of the jet’s left elevator had been located in three separate pieces. The components were found between approximately 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the site where the aircraft slammed into the ground.

The left elevator is a control surface attached to the aircraft’s tail that helps pilots control the plane’s pitch, allowing its nose to move up or down.

NTSB board member Tom Chapman described the discovery as an important piece of evidence. He explained that the aircraft would have been extremely difficult to control without the component intact, particularly during its rapid descent.

However, investigators have not established whether the elevator broke away and contributed to the loss of control or separated because of the extreme forces acting on the aircraft during its dive.

The Learjet crashed on November 1 in a residential neighborhood in Greenacres, southwest of West Palm Beach. It had departed Austin, Texas, and was traveling toward North Eleuthera in the Bahamas when it encountered severe weather.

In the minutes before the crash, the crew reported accumulating ice and significant turbulence. Radio communications indicated that the aircraft was experiencing dramatic altitude changes before entering a steep, uncontrolled descent.

The jet eventually struck the ground with tremendous force, creating a large crater and triggering a fire. All seven passengers and both pilots were killed.

Among the victims were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their two young children, Emma and Charlie. Their nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr also lost their lives.

The two pilots were Captain Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20.

Investigators are examining the aircraft’s recovered components, weather conditions, flight data and available video footage to reconstruct what happened. They are also working to determine whether the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder can be recovered.

Although the discovery of the separated elevator confirms that the aircraft was breaking apart before impact, officials have cautioned that it does not establish the cause of the disaster.

The NTSB expects to release a preliminary report in approximately a month. Determining the crash’s probable cause could take considerably longer.

For now, the recovered pieces of the aircraft may help investigators answer one of the most important questions surrounding the tragedy: what happened to the Learjet in the final moments before it fell from the sky?

Source:  DAILYMAIL