Florida – 9:19 AM
On the morning of October 25, 1999, PGA golfer Payne Stewart, his agents, and Bruce Borland, a golf course architect, boarded a charted Learjet 35 plane with two pilots for a two-day, five-flight trip. Before departure, the plane was filled with enough fuel for a four-hour and 45-minute flight.
Source: Getty Images
The flight departed from Orlando International Airport at 9:19 a.m. and was headed toward Dallas. As the plane rose into the sky, the controller instructed the pilot to climb and maintain flight level at 39,000 feet. The pilot acknowledged the clearance, which was the last radio transmission from the plane.