Bob Clifford

“It seems to me that ATC maybe should have been more proactive about where they were allowing this aircraft to fly, and I think that’s something that’s going to be looked at by the NTSB.”

Bob Clifford · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-02

Clifford suggested air traffic control may have needed to be more proactive about routing the aircraft.

“Fundamentally, these people flew into a thunderstorm, and into the red zone, and tried to navigate that, and it just doesn’t work,”

Bob Clifford · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-02

Clifford said the actions of the pilots and air traffic control would be particularly scrutinized in the investigation.

“These are great planes, I’ve flown many times in a Lear 60, and they’re like rocket ships. There’s is just not a lot of margin of error up there. There’s going to be a lot of finger pointing here about why the pilots did what they did, why ATC [air traffic control] allowed them to do it, and who knew what and when.”

Bob Clifford · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-02

Clifford discussed the Learjet 60's characteristics and anticipated scrutiny of pilot and ATC decisions.