Anita Cetina was weeks from her 25th birthday and thrilled about her first trip to the Bahamas. All nine people on board the private jet died when it crashed in Palm Beach County on 1 November.
A 24-year-old nanny killed in the Florida Learjet crash spoke to her sister on a video call on the morning of the disaster, full of excitement about her first trip to the Bahamas. Anna Maria Ramirez Cetina, known as Anita, was working for the family of tech multi-millionaire Adam Robinson. She was weeks short of her 25th birthday when the plane came down in Palm Beach County on 1 November. Her sister, Angie Ramirez Cetina, told the US Sun that Anita had shown her the children on board during the call.
“She was truly happy”
Angie said her sister had never been to the Bahamas and did not see the trip as work. “She was very happy. She was truly happy because she had never been to the Bahamas, and even though she was working, she didn’t see it as work. She enjoyed it,” she told the newspaper.
Ms Cetina, a biomedical engineer, had joined the Robinson family to celebrate Mr Robinson’s 44th birthday. Angie said her sister always spoke highly of the family and adored their two children.
After seeing a social media video of the plane crashing in a fireball near a mobile home park in Greenacres, Angie checked the Learjet 60’s flight path. “I saw the accident, I saw the flight path, and truthfully, I didn’t want to accept that it might be my sister on the plane,” she said. “But later, my mom called me on Monday morning and confirmed to me that yes, it was the flight Ana Maria was on.”
She described the two as “inseparable”. “My sister and I shared so many things together,” she said. “We have so many memories.” She said Anita stayed with her through her pregnancy, the birth of her son and her postpartum recovery. “She adored my son. He was practically the apple of her eye.”
The victims
The nine people who died included Mr Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, 40, and their children Emma, four, and Charlie, two. Family friends Rachel Reed and Charmi Fehr were also on board. The pilot, Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha, 20, also died. A distress call to air traffic control captured Ms Gadelha saying “we’re going to crash into the ground”, while Mr Gregory could be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
The plane had flown from Austin, Texas. It met a severe storm and hit the ground minutes later, leaving a large crater near the entrance to the mobile home park.
What investigators have found
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on 5 November that excavation crews had recovered part of one of the aircraft’s engines. Recovery work began on 4 November. Wreckage has also been found on rooftops and away from the main impact site, and pieces are being taken to a secure facility so investigators can try to reconstruct what happened. The NTSB asked residents not to keep or move any fragments, and to email witness@ntsb.gov, ideally with a photograph, if they find any. As of 8 November, the investigation, reference ERA27MA026, was ongoing and no probable cause had been determined.
According to AP News, investigators recovered a large part of the Learjet’s left elevator, a control surface on the tail, several miles from the main impact site. Flying magazine reported that the evidence suggests at least some structural separation happened before impact. Investigators are examining whether that contributed to a loss of control or followed another event. Neither turbulence nor a component failure has been established as the cause. The NTSB is examining weather, aircraft systems, maintenance records and crew actions.
Aviation Week reported that maintenance records indicate the aircraft had been fitted with a cockpit voice recorder, but it is not known whether it was still installed or survived the crash. AP News said rainwater collecting in the crater has complicated the search. The aircraft was a 2004-built Learjet 60, registration N722BD, operated by Aurora Aviation under the Upper Jet name. Aviation Week said the flight was a Part 135 charter operation.
The final descent and the weather
Independent tracking analysis by map.flights places the start of the final descent at about 12.48pm Eastern Time, at an altitude of around 35,375 feet. The last recorded altitude was about 8,750 feet at 12.49pm. The site estimates a ground speed of 506 knots, about 582mph, and a peak descent rate of 32,640 feet per minute. The last tracked position came about 72 seconds after the descent began. These are tracking estimates, not NTSB findings. Ground speed is not airspeed, so it cannot show whether the jet exceeded its structural limits, and the maximum descent rate was not a constant speed.
Air traffic controllers warned the crew of intense rainfall across an area roughly 100 miles wide, and the pilots were cleared to deviate around it, according to Debrief Crew. AccuWeather’s analysis, reported by the Associated Press, found some thunderstorm clouds reached about 45,000 feet, while the aircraft was flying around 35,000 feet when its crew began reporting problems. The crew reported an outside temperature of about -47C and light clear icing. The AP quoted retired airline pilot John Cox as describing the combination of freezing precipitation and significant turbulence at that altitude as concerning. Flightradar24 said the aircraft had asked to climb to 37,000 feet just before the emergency and began its rapid descent before reaching that level.
Residents displaced
Local authorities initially estimated that 400 to 600 residents were forced from their homes. WFLX reported that people from nearly 80 mobile homes were evacuated and that access was restricted because the crash happened near the community’s main entrance. Officials warned that returning home could take as long as two weeks, though no timetable had been fixed. The impact damaged a water main, causing an outage for nearby homes and businesses, and crews had to pump water from the area before retrieving some wreckage. WPTV reported that Palm Beach County officials were trying to arrange help with hotels, transport vouchers and food. The AP reported that one person on the ground suffered leg injuries.
The US aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler has announced an independent investigation of its own, covering flight history, maintenance, crew communications, weather and operational decisions. The inquiry is separate from the NTSB’s. It does not establish negligence by any party, nor does it confirm that a lawsuit has been filed.
