Who Owned the $2.4M Learjet That Crashed Near Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Killing Nine? FAA Records Point to Delaware LLC

The $2.4 million Learjet that nose-dived into a Palm Beach County neighbourhood near Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, 1 November, killing all nine people aboard, is registered to LR60271 LLC, a Delaware company. Federal Aviation Administration records name no individual behind it.

The Learjet 60, tail number N722BD, was flying from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Its owner's name matches the aircraft's model and serial number, 60-271. Valuation service Virtual Hangar put the jet's worth at $2,429,464 (about £1.81 million) as of 29 August.

What the FAA Registry Shows

The registration certificate was issued on 4 January 2023 and runs until 31 January 2030. The registry lists the jet as an 11-seat twin-turbofan, and an archived Aircraft.com sales listing dates it to 2004. Public NTSB records show no earlier accident involving the tail number.

The owner's address, 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington, is the Corporation Trust Center, home to registered agent CT Corporation. Hundreds of thousands of entities have used the building as their legal address.

Why the Owners Remain Unnamed

A Delaware LLC's formation certificate lists only the company's name and its registered agent. Members' names stay off the public record unless filed voluntarily, and the FAA registry omits them too.

Beneficial ownership reports filed under the Corporate Transparency Act were never public. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network exempted US-formed companies from filing them in March 2025 and made that permanent in August 2026.

Charter Certificate and Who Was Flying

FAA-derived operator data list N722BD on the Part 135 charter certificate of Aurora Aviation, Inc., so the jet could be flown for hire. The certificate is overseen by the FAA's Miami Flight Standards District Office and covers four aircraft: two Learjet 60s, a Learjet 60XR, and a Dassault Falcon 50.

Part 135 flights face stricter rules on maintenance, crew rest, and pilot qualifications than private flights. Officials have not said which rules governed Sunday's trip. An Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesperson described the jet as a private aircraft, and Aurora Aviation had not released a statement by Monday morning.

The Final Minutes

Flightradar24 data show the jet arrived in Austin from Little Rock, Arkansas, on 31 October. It left at 9:37 a.m. local time on Sunday, cruised at about 41,000 feet, and began descending to 35,000 feet near Naples. Storms had been reported across the area.

Air traffic control audio posted on LiveATC captured the pilot reporting manageable light ice, moderate turbulence, and precipitation, then requesting a climb to 37,000 feet. A mayday followed moments later.

'We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,' the pilot told controllers, who could not re-establish contact.

Provisional tracking data showed the descent rate passing 30,000 feet per minute. At about 12:50 p.m. the jet struck Military Trail between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said the impact left a 'massive crater'.

Crash Came Less Than an Hour After Trump Left Palm Beach

The site lies less than seven miles from Mar-a-Lago and about four miles south of President Donald J. Trump International Airport, which took that name in July. Trump boarded Air Force One there at 11:55 a.m., less than an hour before the jet went down, AFP reported. A White House official had said he would hold back-to-back campaign rallies in Kansas and Iowa that day.

Social media claims that the jet was shot down have no official support.

Evacuations and the Investigation

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the aircraft looked 'like a missile going down.' He said no one on the ground was hurt. About 600 residents of a neighbouring mobile home park were moved to shelters, and a stretch of Military Trail remains closed.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash a 'horrific tragedy'. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the inquiry with FAA support and said on X it would hold a media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday. The cause has not been established. The victims have not been named, and officials have not said how many were crew.

A CNN review of NTSB records ranks it the second-deadliest US crash of 2026, behind a June skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri, that killed 12. CNN also cited Flight Safety Foundation data showing it is the deadliest Learjet 60 accident.