NTSB exposes the horrific conditions that doomed Florida learjet flight

At about 10.37 Eastern Time, and all of these times will be Eastern Time, at about 10.37 Eastern Time, the aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport en route to North Eleuthera, Bahamas, with nine people on board, two flight crew, and seven passengers. After takeoff, the flight proceeded towards the destination while establishing contact with various ATC facilities along the route of flight. About 1247 p.m. Eastern Time, the crew transmitted to ATC that they were encountering light, clear ice, which was manageable and also moderate turbulence. While in contact with Miami Air Route Traffic Center, the crew transmitted that they were at 35,000 feet with moderate turbulence with altitude deviations of about 700 feet. The crew reported the outside temperature was minus 47 Celsius which is minus 53 Fahrenheit and they were managing the ice but were in moderate turbulence. Very soon after the crew transmitted we are picking up precipitation requesting to climb to 37,000 feet if able which was approved by FAA air traffic control. Less than 30 seconds later A transmission from the airplane announced a descent. Our investigator in charge is with me here. His name is Timothy Monville. I'm going to invite Tim to speak about the structure and process of the investigation. Mr. Monville is a senior investigator at NTSB with nearly 40 years of experience, and he's leading a multidisciplinary team of experts. Tim? Captain Chapman, thank you. So, as the NTSB investigator in charge, I arrived yesterday evening about 7 p.m., immediately consulted with local law enforcement to identify the scope of the accident site. As well as to identify outlying parts. From that initial interaction, I came up with an investigative plan to document the parts that are known away from the main impact site. And the investigative team for NTSB includes a drone pilot, a systems and structure specialist, recorder specialist. And specialists from Transportation Disaster Assistance, IT, Public Affairs, Media, and Communications. Additional personnel assisting NTSB include the Federal Aviation Administration, representatives of the airframe manufacturer Learjet, Inc., and possibly the operator of the aircraft. In addition to... The NTSB specialists away from the site include weather experts and air traffic control experts. We've just begun our documentation. We have a lot of work to do on scene. This will be a several day process and the biggest obstacle that we're going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway.