Warning: Distressing content
A 20-year-old co-pilot, who got her licence in high school, was in the cockpit of a private jet that nosedived and crashed in a fiery inferno in Florida.
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras’ parents confirmed she was the co-pilot of the Learjet 60 jet that fell at a rate of 6000 metres a minute, crashing into a mobile home park in Greenacres, a suburb of Palm Beach, north of Miami.
Nine people, including an experienced 55-year-old pilot Jeff Gregory and Ms Filgueiras, died in the inferno on Sunday, US time. The plane nosedived into the ground at an estimated speed of 595km/h, leaving little more than a crater.
The passengers have since been identified as a Texas tech multi-millionaire and his family, who were en route to the Bahamas alongside close friends.
Among those killed was 44-year-old tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen, and their two young children, along with the family’s nanny and two close friends, sources close to the family told TMZ.
US officials said on Monday that parts of the plane appeared to have broken off during the flight, dooming the plane. The black box, if it is even recoverable, has not been located yet.
Copilot’s final text
Ms Filgueiras’ mother Camila Corteleti and her stepfather told the New York Post she was the co-pilot flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.
The family said she had been working as a commercial pilot for nine months and had 1300 hours of flying experience.
Plane was breaking apart
On Monday, the US’ National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB) said their initial indications were that a part of the plane began breaking off midair.
“We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact,” said the NTSB’s Tom Chapman said.
“We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.”
If a key part of the aircraft was lost, such as the tail, it would have made controlling the aircraft almost impossible.
It’s thought the jet flew through a storm while over Florida. The role of the weather and any ice build up on the plane – which can affect the aerodynamics – are set to be at the heart of the investigation.
The pilots began to report issues when the plane was at 35,000 feet with turbulence and ice accumulating on the wings, according to an air traffic control audio recording.
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” a pilot said.
But the situation then began to deteriorate.
The pilot requested the plane head higher by 2000 feet – but it soon began heading in the opposite direction.
Ms Filgueiras’ repeatedly declared “mayday”, an international voice radio distress signal used by pilots, when it became clear the aircraft was rapidly losing elevation.
“We’re descending 8000 feet, mayday, mayday, 10,000 feet per minute,” she can be heard screaming into an air traffic controller.
“Declaring emergency … descending 20,000 feet per minute … we’re going to crash into the ground.
“We are banking 60 degrees, we are going to die, holy f**k we’re out of time.”
Mr Gregory, the pilot of the jet, can be heard reciting the Lord’s prayers in the background as the plane plummeted.
It’s not clear whether Ms Filgueiras was chiefly in charge of the aircraft during the flight.
‘Knew her dream would take her from me’
Camila Filgueiras said she wanted her daughter “to live her dream” when she told her she wanted to fly.
“But I knew that her dream was going to be the thing that would take her away from me,” she told the Post from her home in Palm Beach County.
“I knew that a plane was gonna take her away from me. I always knew it but I was so proud of her. I know she was living her dream,” she said.
“Everybody was so impressed with her. They hired her because they knew how good she was and how much she loved it.”
The 20-year-old regularly documented her aviation journey on social media, sharing photos and videos from her flights.
In one clip, Ms. Filgueiras captioned the footage: “How often do you see two pilots under 21 with a commercial, multi-engine, instrument rating, CFI/CFI-I?”
She had even described herself as having a “plane addiction” in one of her posts.
The young aviator had also been featured in local media when she got her private pilot’s licence at just 17 in October 2023, before she even had her driver’s licence.
“I definitely do brag because people say, ‘Oh, you can’t drive’, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I can fly’,” she told US network CBS12 in an interview at the time.
Ms Filgueiras explained that she began pilot lessons in 2020, but was also taught by her dad.
She said she had flown every day since ground school, building 88 hours of flight time and passing the knowledge test.
She achieved her licence in 2023, which was paid for by the School District of Palm Beach County’s Aviation Academy.
“I like being different than everyone,” Ms Filgueiras said.
Dashcam video from motorists travelling along South Military Trail road in Greenacres shows the jet slicing through the overcast sky at high speed on Sunday afternoon (Monday morning AEDT).
The crash site was relatively close to US President Donald Trump’s resort home of Mar-a-Lago.
Videos from the scene show thick black smoke billowing into the air and debris being scattered across the roadway, with the force of the collision carving a deep crater where a mobile home once stood.