Man Says He Drove Over Suspected Learjet Debris on His Way to Work

Federal investigators recovered parts of the jet’s tail miles from the Florida crash site. The piece shown on TikTok remains unidentified.

A man pulling into his workplace parking lot in the West Palm Beach area says he drove over what looked like a piece of scrap metal. When he stopped to take a closer look, he suspected it might be wreckage from the Learjet 60 that crashed near Greenacres, Florida, on November 1, 2026. All nine people aboard were killed.

The man, who posts on TikTok as MoversToTrust, said he moved the metal onto the grass and called the sheriff’s office through its nonemergency line. He shared close-up photos of the piece, including images of handwritten markings, and said he believed it was part of the jet’s tail. The National Transportation Safety Board has not publicly identified the piece shown in his post.

Investigators found pieces of the left elevator miles away

At a November 3 briefing, NTSB board member Thomas Chapman said investigators had found most of the jet’s left elevator in three pieces the previous day. The pieces were located between about 1.3 and 3.8 miles from where the aircraft hit the ground. The elevator is a movable surface on the horizontal tail that helps control whether the nose pitches up or down.

Chapman said the locations showed that some components had separated before impact. The order of events remains under investigation. Investigators are working to determine whether the elevator’s separation contributed to the loss of control or whether forces acting on the aircraft caused it to break away during the descent.

What the crew reported before the crash

The Learjet departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. According to the NTSB’s preliminary timeline, the crew reported icing and moderate turbulence while flying at 35,000 feet. They later requested permission to climb after encountering precipitation. Shortly after controllers cleared the climb, the crew reported a descent and issued a mayday call.

Captain Jeff Gregory and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras were among those killed. The seven passengers were Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, their children Emma and Charlie, the children’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.

Recovery continued at the impact site

In its November 8 update, the NTSB said it had finished its on-scene work outside the impact site while excavation continued. Investigators had identified components from both wings and engines, the flight deck, and several parts of the tail. Some pieces were sent to NTSB laboratories in Washington, D.C., for closer examination.

The agency asked anyone who finds suspected wreckage to leave it in place and contact investigators. Even small fragments may help establish when parts separated and what forces they experienced. The NTSB has yet to announce a probable cause.