20-Year-Old Co-Pilot Identified Among Nine Killed in Florida Crash

Filgueiras’ family identified her as the co-pilot of the Learjet 60, which crashed in a residential area near Greenacres in Palm Beach County. The aircraft had departed Austin, Texas, and was bound for the Bahamas. Authorities said all nine people aboard were killed; about 600 people in a nearby mobile-home community were affected by the crash, and no deaths on the ground were reported.

She was raised in Palm Beach County and earned her private pilot’s license at 17, while finishing her final year at West Boca Raton High School. She began flying lessons in 2020, logged 88 hours before receiving her license, and later graduated from American Flyers flight school. Her stated ambition was to fly for a commercial airline.

Air traffic control recordings captured the crew reporting ice buildup and turbulence before declaring an emergency. A pilot radioed that the jet was descending rapidly, at one point describing a rate of 20,000 feet per minute. The plane crashed at about 12:50 p.m. on November 1.

The U.S. civil aviation regulator and the national transportation accident investigation agency are investigating. Severe weather has been raised as a possible factor, but the cause has not been determined. The NTSB was scheduled to brief the media on November 2 about its investigation and planned work at the crash site.