20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras identified among victims of Florida Learjet crash

One of the pilots of the private jet known as a Learjet 60 that crashed into the ground on Sunday afternoon in Florida was a 20-year-old aviator identified as Nathalia Filgueiras, her mother claimed on Monday (November 2). All nine people on board were killed after the jet plummeted to the ground on Sunday.

The private jet was travelling from Texas to the Bahamas when it crashed down in a residential area of Palm Beach, Fla., leaving a smouldering crater and wreckage in the street. Meanwhile, investigators were trying to figure out on Monday what happened.

The deceased co-pilot, Filgueiras, of Boca Raton, Fla., had experience of over 1,300 hours of flight time, earning her pilot’s license at 17, according to her mother, Camila Corteleti. She added her daughter had worked for Upper Jets in Fort Lauderdale and was co-pilot of Sunday’s flight.

Corteleti revealed that her daughter was quite passionate about flying since childhood. She used to love soaring the skies with her father, who is a recreational pilot. She recalled her daughter as a child enjoying watching planes taking off and landing, who also admired to become pilot when she was 12. “She loved the freedom,” Corteleti said, adding, “It was completely different seeing the world from the top.”

No injury on the ground

Meanwhile, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed in a Sunday statement that everyone aboard the plane had died. Not many details are available about the passengers, and officials indicated there were no reports of any injury on the ground after the jet crashed.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot radioed air traffic control, describing light and clear icing along with moderate turbulence that was manageable, according to archived recordings of her communications with controllers in Miami that afternoon.

She requested clearance to climb to 37,000 feet, but moments later her tone shifted to alarm as she declared a mayday, signaling a life-threatening emergency. She reported the aircraft plummeting at a rate of 20,000 feet per minute, warning controllers, “We’re going to crash into the ground.”