Learjet co-pilot, 20, killed in Florida crash got licence in high school: Report

Twenty-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was flying as co-pilot on the Learjet 60 travelling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it plunged towards the ground at high speed and burst into flames on Monday.Filgueiras grew up in Palm Beach County and developed an interest in flying after accompanying her father on trips in his small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. (Photo: Threads/@itsnatfilg)The co-pilot of a Learjet that crashed in a residential area of Florida, killing all nine people on board, has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a young aviator who earned her private pilot's licence while still in high school, reported New York Post.Filgueiras was flying as co-pilot on the Learjet 60 travelling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it plunged towards the ground at high speed and burst into flames on Monday. Her mother, Camila, and stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, confirmed her identity to the NYP, which reported that she had been working as a commercial pilot for just nine months.Her death has devastated a family that watched her turn a childhood fascination with flying into a career at an age when most of her peers were still in school."I wanted her to live her dream, but I knew that her dream was going to be the thing that would take her away from me," Camila told the NYP 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.Filgueiras, who would have turned 21 in January, had accumulated 1,300 hours of flying experience, according to her stepfather. Corteleti also said she had exchanged messages with her boyfriend, Justin, around 10 minutes before the aircraft crashed.WHO WAS NATHALIA FILGUEIRAS? Filgueiras grew up in Palm Beach County and developed an interest in flying after accompanying her father on trips in his small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. Her father had learnt to fly recreationally in 2018, and the experience inspired his daughter to pursue aviation herself. Her mother recalled the moment Filgueiras announced her ambition."One day after flying with him, she came home, and we were in our room, and she walked in, and she said, 'I'm gonna be a pilot' and I said, 'No, you won't," Camila said through tears."Thiago looked at me, and said, 'If that's what she wants to be, she will be a pilot,' and I was like, 'No she won't,'" she added.Filgueiras began taking flying lessons in 2020. By October 2023, while still a senior at West Boca Raton High School, she had secured her private pilot's licence at the age of 17 -- before obtaining a driver's licence.DREAM OF BECOMING AN AIRLINE PILOTHer ambitions extended beyond earning a private pilot's licence. Filgueiras wanted to become a commercial airline pilot and had hoped to eventually work for American Airlines, although she was still too young to apply, her family told the New York Post.She graduated from American Flyers, a flight school based in Addison, Texas, which also has a branch in Pompano Beach, Florida. After completing her training, she worked as an instructor at another flight school in Fort Lauderdale before moving on to another flying job.WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE FATAL CRASH?The Learjet 60 had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it crashed in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon (local time), according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).Audio from a Miami air traffic control centre captured the cockpit's increasingly desperate communications in the final moments of the flight. The recording, posted on LiveATC, initially captured a pilot telling controllers that the crew was managing ice and experiencing moderate turbulence. The cockpit then requested better flying conditions.The situation deteriorated rapidly. Less than a minute later, a voice from the aircraft declared a Mayday emergency and reported that the jet was descending at around 10,000 feet per minute. The rate of descent soon accelerated to 20,000 feet per minute."We're going to crash into the ground," the voice said, as the aircraft's descent rate reached 22,000 feet per minute and the jet began banking.About 35 seconds after the initial Mayday call, the final words heard from the cockpit were: "We're out of time."Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said the aircraft's vertical descent rate had exceeded 32,000 feet per minute at one point. Videos shared on social media showed the jet striking the ground near a road before erupting into a fireball. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the incident as a major tragedy during a press conference near the crash site in Lake Worth Beach."When you see that video, it's a jarring thing. It was like a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere," he said.The impact left a large crater near the entrance to a mobile home park. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said around 600 people were being evacuated from the surrounding area and moved to two shelters. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were reported in the area around the time of the crash, according to AccuWeather. However, authorities have not established what caused the aircraft to go down.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation, while the FAA is also involved in examining the incident. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the crash as a "horrific tragedy".All nine people aboard the aircraft died. Authorities have yet to publicly identify the other eight victims. Bombardier, the Canadian company that manufactured the Learjet 60, said it would support the investigation and cooperate with authorities.- Ends