Learjet 60 Crash Audio Captures Lord's Prayer and Chilling 'We're Going to Crash Into the Ground' Warning

A man's voice can be heard reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background of the final radio transmissions from a plane that crashed in Florida, killing all nine people aboard. The communications included the warning: 'We're going to crash into the ground.'

Friends of Captain Jeff Gregory, 55, said they were convinced the praying voice belonged to him. His co-pilot, 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was also aboard the Bahamas-bound aircraft when it came down in Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday 1 November.

Learjet 60 Crew Issues Mayday Call

The recording circulating publicly consists of air traffic control communications carried by LiveATC, not audio released from a recovered cockpit voice recorder. The aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) identifies the operator as Aurora Aviation, doing business as Upper Jet. Its investigation remains ongoing, with no probable cause established.

At approximately 12.47pm, the crew reported light, clear icing and moderate turbulence at 35,000 feet, NTSB member Tom Chapman said. They described altitude deviations of about 700 feet and subsequently reported encountering precipitation.

Controllers approved a request to climb to 37,000 feet, but less than 30 seconds later the aircraft transmitted that it was descending. A mayday call followed as the situation deteriorated.

'We're descending 8,000, Mayday, Mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute,' a crew member radioed. A later transmission declared an 'overspeed condition' and reported a descent of 20,000 feet per minute.

The warning that the aircraft was going to hit the ground came during the emergency communications. Those descent rates were figures transmitted by the crew, rather than findings from a completed reconstruction of the flight.

Friends Identify Gregory's Praying Voice

Associated Press accounts of the radio audio describe both the crash warning and a male voice reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background. Gregory's friends said they recognised his voice, although that identification has not been established as an investigative finding.

The Limerick Chapel in Pennsylvania, which Gregory attended, separately told worshippers he had been heard 'reciting the Lord's Prayer'. Its message said the married father of three had gone 'home to be with the Lord'.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman defended Filgueiras against criticism of her final calls in a post on his personal X account. He said she was doing her job by continuing to communicate with air traffic control and urged people to let investigators establish the facts.

The seven passengers included Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp and their children, Emma (four) and Charlie (two). Anita Maria Cetina, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr also died.

NTSB Examines Tail Debris and Recorder Status

Chapman said on Tuesday that aircraft parts had been found as far as 3.8 miles from the impact site. Separately, he said the tail's elevator, a control surface that governs the aircraft's pitch, had been found broken into three pieces.

He described the loss of the elevator as important evidence and said he did not know whether it would have remained effective at the speeds involved. The debris findings indicated that the aircraft was likely breaking apart before it struck the ground.

Maintenance records showed that a cockpit voice recorder had been installed, but investigators did not know whether it remained aboard. Water in the impact crater was complicating access to the wreckage.

Chapman said investigators still needed to determine the weather conditions at the aircraft's altitude and whether it had flown through an active thunderstorm. The inquiry will examine aircraft systems, structures, weather, recordings and air traffic control communications.