Wire reporting: (AP, via WSVN 7)

The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday it recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a Bahamas-bound Learjet that crashed Nov. 1 in Palm Beach County, Florida, killing all nine people on board^2,3,4.

The agency said the device was found at the primary impact site and is being evaluated at the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington; excavation work at the crater is complete⁴.

It is not yet known whether the recorder was damaged or whether it was recording on the accident flight^2,3.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said recovering remaining wreckage is critical and asked anyone who found debris to contact the agency⁴.

Investigators previously said pieces of the left elevator, which helps control pitch, were found well away from the main crater, including three pieces between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the site, showing the jet began to break apart before impact^2,4.

Weather is part of the inquiry: one of the pilots told air traffic control that ice was forming but was manageable and that turbulence was throwing the aircraft up and down by about 700 feet, then asked to climb to 37,000 feet shortly before the descent^2,4.

The AP account, via WSVN and WFLA, said investigators will review maintenance records, interview officials at operator Upper Jets, air traffic controllers and workers at the Austin, Texas, airport from which the flight departed^2,3.

KSL, carrying CNN, said a preliminary report is expected in about a month and that determining probable cause can take one to two years⁴.