A millionaire tech entrepreneur and his family died when their private jet crashed in Florida on Sunday. The $2 million Learjet was heading to the Bahamas from Texas when it hit a storm and went down. Justin Crabbe, a veteran pilot and expert, told The New York Post that the crew made a fatal choice to fly through bad weather.
The plane stalled between 35,000 and 37,000 feet before it plummeted and exploded near a trailer park. Nine people were on board, including the pilots, the passengers, and a nanny. Adam Robinson, the tech founder, was killed alongside his wife Helen Sharp and their two young children, Emma and Charlie. Two friends and the children’s nanny also died in the fireball.
Crabbe noted that air-traffic control had given the pilots room to avoid the weather. Yet the crew chose to push through the storm instead. Crabbe believes they were driven by a desire to reach their destination on time.
Pilots must recline and grasp the forces driving them toward this specific trip, maneuver, or journey in a manner that could jeopardize flight safety.
The co-pilot, 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras, tried to climb higher to escape the clouds. She asked for and got permission to go from 35,000 to 37,000 feet. She had reported ice forming on the jet and sub-zero temperatures outside. Ice is dangerous because it changes how air moves over the wings.
Crabbe told The New York Post that this attempt to climb may have caused the crash. The plane had de-icers, but the ice built up too fast for them to work.
Friends say Robinson was living his best life before the tragedy. One pal told The New York Post that Robinson had said his life was “going too well” just weeks before.
Robinson had made millions on Wall Street before becoming a business leader in Colorado. His companies released a joint statement mourning his death. A friend named Brett Hurt called it an “unspeakable tragedy” for a man who loved his family and community. The crash site left a burning crater in the ground, marking the end of a trip meant to celebrate a birthday.
