Father Remembers Daughter After Fatal Florida Jet Crash

Allan Filgueiras said on November 6 that he had listened repeatedly to the final radio transmissions made by his daughter, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, before the Learjet crashed in a Palm Beach County neighborhood. The 20-year-old co-pilot and eight others aboard the plane died. Her father, a pilot who helped teach her to fly, said the calls left him proud of how she responded. “She’s tough,” he said.

In the exchange with air traffic control, Filgueiras reported ice on the aircraft as it encountered a thunderstorm and turbulence. She continued providing updates as the plane descended rapidly, reporting that it was falling at 20,000 feet per minute. Her father said he had hoped to find clues about the cause by listening to the recordings, but was left grieving and searching for answers.

Filgueiras had more than 1,300 flight hours and completed training for a commercial pilot’s license and Learjet certification. Her family and lawyer said they wanted to counter online criticism of her experience and protect her reputation. The 55-year-old captain, Jeff Gregory, may have been piloting the aircraft in its final minutes. There were no immediate plans for a lawsuit. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation was still at an early stage; the aircraft exceeded its design limits during the descent, and pieces of its tail were found more than a mile from the crash site.