Florida Learjet plane crash was real, not faked to cover up a missile strike

Claims that the jet crash in Florida was faked to cover up a missile strike are circulating online.

This is false. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that a Learjet 60 aircraft crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, on 1 November killing all nine people aboard. Substantial evidence including dashcam footage recorded by a motorist also shows the aircraft descending steeply before hitting the ground and erupting into a fireball.

Flight tracking data, audio recordings from the pilot before the crash and recovered debris have enabled experts to reconstruct the sequence of events. The exact cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

One Facebook post claims the event was actually a missile strike with “no plane involved” and that computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used to make it look like a plane. It shares a screengrab of another Facebook post questioning why “nothing’s left of the plane”.

But Miami aviation attorney Zachary Gorwitz told the Miami Herald that the extreme speed and force of the crash explains why “there wouldn’t be a lot of surface debris” at the impact site. The NTSB also said there was “some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact”, that some parts were found elsewhere, such as the aircraft’s left elevator, and that their biggest obstacle was “recovering major wreckage from the impacted crater”.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did say the footage “looked like a missile going down” but confirmed “it was a cataclysmic plane crash”.

Another Facebook post called it an “A.I. plane crash” and claimed the widely shared dashcam footage was created by taking a real image of a “dirt funnel” (likely referring to a funnel cloud or tornado) and digitally inserting a plane. Numerous eyewitness accounts plus recorded footage prove a plane nosedived immediately before a large explosion.

Claims that real events have been staged or faked often circulate online after major incidents. Our misinformation toolkit can help you tell what is genuine.