Learjet co-pilot in fiery Florida crash ID’d as 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras
· Toronto Sun
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
Visit truewildgame.online for more information.
The co-pilot of the Learjet heard screaming in haunting air traffic control audio before it crashed on a busy Florida street has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras.
Filgueiras’s mother, Camila, and stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, confirmed to the New York Post that she was co-piloting the Learjet 60 travelling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it nosedived into the ground in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon.
“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 said of her daughter, who was set to celebrate her 21st birthday in January.
Flying professionally for less than a year
She told the outlet that Nathalia had been working as a private pilot for nine months.
“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,” Camila told the outlet.
Corteleti said his stepdaughter had 1,300 hours of flying experience.
He revealed that his stepdaughter, Nathalia, had texted her boyfriend Justin minutes before the crash.
“She just said, ‘I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice,’” Corteleti shared.
What happened before the crash?
Filgueiras and eight others were on board the Learjet 60 before it plummeted to the ground, killing all nine people on board.
Moments before its rapid descent, a pilot believed to be Filgueiras could be heard on a mayday call to the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.
“We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!” she said, before screaming, “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute… We’re going to crash into the ground!”
The plane hit the ground at 12:50 p.m., creating a giant fireball and massive crater on the six-lane thoroughfare as fire and debris from the jet littered the area.
The jet’s reported vertical rate exceeded 32,000 feet per minute, according to Flightradar24.com .
No one on the ground was hurt.
Authorities have not confirmed Filgueiras’ identity or the other eight people who died on board the jet.
Love of flying began early
Filgueiras said in an interview with local outlet WPEC in October 2023 that she learned about aviation from her father, who began flying for fun in 2018, and developed her own passion for it.
The teen had logged 88 flight hours before earning her private pilot’s licence in 2023, the outlet reported.
She was 17 at the time and didn’t even have her driver’s licence yet.
“I definitely do brag because people say, ‘Oh, you can’t drive,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I can fly,’” she said in the interview.
Filgueiras, the middle sibling of three sisters, dreams of becoming a pilot had her mother fearing for her daughter, but Corteleti told his wife that it was going to happen.
“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,’” the mother recalled to the Post .
Filgueiras’ dream was to become a commercial airline pilot one day, but she was still too young to apply for a job at American Airlines, her family said.
She graduated from American Flyers, an Addison, Tex.-based flying school with a branch in Pompano Beach, Florida, according to the outlet.
Filgueiras often shared photos and video of her in a plane as well as her and her boyfriend at sunny destinations.
‘This would be her way to go’
After getting her pilot’s licence, Filgueiras started working as an instructor at another school in Fort Lauderdale before getting another pilot job.
“Everybody was so impressed with her. They hired her because they knew how good she was and how much she loved it,” Camila told the Post.
“I know if she could pick a way to go, this would be her way to go, but I didn’t want it to be so soon.”
Further details are expected at a press conference later on Monday.