The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Monday that it would investigate the extent to which ice and turbulence may have played a role in the accident. According to the flight crew, the aircraft was encountering storm clouds when they requested permission to climb to 37,000 feet.
"We are encountering rain clouds. We would like to request clearance to 37,000 feet," the crew told air traffic control.
NTSB member Tom Chapman said that less than 30 seconds later, the aircraft began descending, prompting the crew to issue an emergency call for assistance.
He said the transmission was subsequently interrupted. "Sadly, everyone on board was killed," Chapman said.
The NTSB confirmed that ice and turbulence were factors in the crash, but determining the probable cause will require a lengthy investigation. Thunderstorms had been reported in the area at the time of the accident.
Investigators are also trying to establish whether a cockpit voice recorder was present on the aircraft at the time of the crash and whether it can be recovered.
The investigation involves the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), representatives of Learjet, meteorologists and air traffic control experts.
Timothy Monville, an aviation safety investigator with the safety board, said recovering debris from the crater left in the road would be an "extremely challenging task".
Flight analysis indicates that the jet was descending at hundreds of feet per second before it crashed.
Audio recordings of air traffic control communications capture a crew member declaring an emergency and reporting, "We are in an overspeed situation and descending at a rate of 20,000 feet per minute."
The crew member was also heard saying, "We are about to hit the ground."
Approximately 35 seconds after the initial emergency declaration, the final cockpit transmission was recorded: "We don't have much time left."
The identities of the seven people who died on board were confirmed in a joint statement released by their families. They were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their two children, Emma and Charlie, along with Rachel Reed, Charmy Fehr and Anita Maria Setina.
Media reports identified the pilot as Jeffrey Gregory, while Nathalia Filgueiras, who obtained her pilot's licence at the age of 17, was identified as the co-pilot.
Apart from those killed in the aircraft, one person on the ground sustained a leg injury when the jet crashed onto the road.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said the accident occurred on Military Trail, a six-lane road surrounded by businesses and restaurants.
Photographs from the crash site showed a large, fire-damaged crater in the middle of a residential suburban road.
During a press conference on Monday, officials said debris had been scattered across playgrounds, businesses and homes in the surrounding area. This raised the possibility that the aircraft had broken apart before hitting the ground.
Unverified footage shared on social media appeared to show dashcam recordings of the moment of impact.
Trump was at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday morning and had departed from a nearby airport aboard Air Force One approximately an hour before the crash.
The NTSB's investigation will now focus on reconstructing the aircraft's final moments, examining the weather conditions and recovering available evidence to establish what caused the fatal descent that killed all seven people on board.
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