Key Part of Jet in Deadly Florida Crash Found Far From Impact Site

The mechanism that controls the vertical angle of the plane was found in three pieces, including one nearly four miles away. All nine people aboard were killed.

A crucial part of the private jet that crashed in Florida on Sunday was found in fragments far from where the aircraft slammed into the ground in Palm Beach County, federal investigators said on Tuesday.

The fiery crash killed all nine people aboard, and the part, a mechanism that controls the angle of the plane, was found in three pieces, including at a spot nearly four miles from the crash site.

The discovery of the part, known as the left tail elevator, was a "very important piece of evidence," Thomas B. Chapman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

But it was not yet clear whether the tail part broke off before the plane began to plummet or during the aircraft's plunge to the ground.

Still, the recovery of the part was a bit of progress in an investigation that has been hampered by a host of complications, including the powerful storms that investigators believe were a factor in Sunday's crash. There were severe thunderstorms in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon when the plane, a Learjet 60, crashed nose first on a road, erupting into a fireball that was captured in harrowing video footage.

Mr. Chapman said much of the wreckage remained in a crater, still off limits to investigators, who hope to have access by Wednesday once public works teams finish clearing the site of water and other damage caused by the crash.

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