Copilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, reportedly messaged her boyfriend about turbulence and ice roughly 10 minutes before a private jet crashed in West Palm Beach, Florida, killing all nine people aboard. (Foto: Instagram)
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a 20-year-old Brazilian American copilot, messaged her boyfriend about turbulence and ice during a flight roughly 10 minutes before a private jet crashed in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, Nov. 1. All nine people aboard the aircraft died.
Her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, 44, said she sent the message at about 12:40 p.m. He told the New York Post that she had said she was experiencing turbulence and ice. Nathalia’s boyfriend is also a pilot, and she often flew with him.
Authorities said Monday, Nov. 2, that the aircraft was carrying seven passengers and two crew members. Witnesses recorded the jet exploding near a road. The plane was identified in preliminary reports as a Learjet 60.
The passengers included a Texas family of four traveling with a nanny and two close friends. They were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44; his wife, Helen; their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; and nanny Anita Maria Apellido Cetina.
The two crew members killed were captain Jeff Gregory, 55, and copilot Nathalia. Her relatives identified her as a member of the flight crew. She had accumulated about 1,300 flight hours and earned her private pilot’s license at 17, before she had a driver’s license.
An audio recording of communications between the crew and air traffic controllers captured the emergency moments before the crash. The New York Post reported that the woman’s voice in the recording was believed to be Nathalia’s, a conclusion her family confirmed to the newspaper.
