Investigators recover cockpit recorder from doomed Learjet, may provide details on what happened

Federal investigators on Monday recovered the cockpit voice recorders from the Learjet 60 that crashed in Florida after encountering turbulence and icing conditions. 

The recorder was located at the site of the intal impact, the National Transportation Safety Board said. 

The device was sent to NTSB labs in Washington, D.C., where it will be evaluated. It's not immediately known if valuable data can be recovered from the device. But any voice recordings recovered may tell investigators why offer clues as to why the aircraft plummeted over 30,000 feet in about one minute, killing all nine people on board. 

The excavation work at the impact site is now complete, the NTSB said. Investigators have also recovered both wings, both engines, the flight deck, and parts of the tail section, as well as other control surfaces, the NTSB announced in a post on X on Sunday. 

Some of the parts have been sent to Washington, D.C. for closer inspection, the NTSB said. 

Federal investigators found three pieces of the jet's left elevator between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site in Palm Beach County, Florida, a few days after the crash. 

The NTSB is asking the public to contact the agency if they find any more parts of the aircraft. 

"Please do not keep it or attempt to move, alter or dispose of it," the agency said. 

The NTSB has said the investigation will be complicated and take a long time, due in part to the near-total destruction of the plane.