Shaker Cherukuri

We're saddened to hear about the tragedy involving a Learjet 60 near West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday evening, November 1. Weather was likely a contributing factor; while the NTSB has a long investigation ahead, here's what the meteorological and flight tracking data tell us:

I stopped at a station today & went from 50% to 100% in under a minute! Mind blowing! 😂🤣

A closer look at the Learjet 60, the same aircraft model involved in today's tragic crash in Florida. The Learjet 60 is a mid-size business jet powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW305A turbofan engines, mounted at the rear of the fuselage. It features swept wings, winglets and a distinctive T-tail design. This aircraft is capable of cruising at approximately 826 km/h (446 knots) and operating at altitudes of up to 51,000 feet (15,545 metres). However, today's accident has drawn particular attention to its final moments. Flight-tracking data reportedly showed the aircraft losing approximately 27,000 feet of altitude in just one minute before crashing in Palm Beach County. That is an extraordinary rate of descent. What caused such a rapid loss of altitude remains unknown and will be a key focus of the investigation. 🎥East Coast Aviation

The Learjet that crashed in Palm Beach County went from 35,000 feet to the ground in 76 seconds. Would the black box even survive this, seen the video of the non existent wreckage. You can hear the other pilot praying in the background about halfway through, they totally knew it was over. This aircraft has fewer than 10 seats so probably won’t have an FDR. It should have a CVR, this would be right at the mechanical limit for such a device, it is an extreme crash. Apparently most of it gets pulverized into tiny pieces and the denser stronger stuff likely buried itself under the ground. The plane was almost certainly damaged in the storm, or else the pilot would have recovered this. Something in the controls stopped working. Icing. Always a risk when flying into precipitation. They should have been high enough to prevent it (and that’s likely why they asked to go even higher) but it’s not a guarantee. Then they lost the horizontal stabilizer due to overspeed when the wings lost lift. Game over.

This Learjet crash sure looks like an icing situation. They were at 37,000 feet over a thunderstorm and suddenly started descending. There's a transcript of ATC calls that mentions the icing. Ice accumulation is faster on tightly curved surfaces. The tailplane is basically small wings, which means tighter curves, so ice accumulates on the elevator at the back. The ice makes it less effective, you have to apply greater control deflection to keep the nose up, and then you run out of control authority, or push it too far and stall the tail. The nose pitches down and you pick up speed, exceeding limits of the aircraft. The horizontal stabilizer may have been torn off during descent, it would have an IAS of over 400KIAS at this point. That's over the 340KIAS limit. Mach number would be about 0.88, and when you factor in turbulence the stress on the airframe is even worse. So, I expect the horizontal stabilizer didn't come off until the overspeed condition.

Don't charge your Audi past 80% Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. is recalling 9,048 model year 2024–2025 Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron vehicles. The high-voltage battery may fail and cause a fire! Until the repair has been completed, owners are advised to charge their vehicles to a maximum of 80% capacity. The remedy is currently under development which means no fix for this yet. Letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed December 18, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the remedy is available. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834 and reference recall 93SK. Vehicle identification numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on October 23, 2026

Social Security may have to cut retirement benefits in six years. Here's how much money is at stake for beneficiaries cnbc.com/2026/11/01/social-s…