What happened
A Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas plunged about 35,000 feet nose-first into a roadway in South Florida on Sunday, according to CNN. All nine people on board were killed. The cause is not yet known, and the National Transportation Safety Board will examine the weather and the aircraft among many other factors.
The dead include seven passengers: tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp; their two children, Emma and Charlie; caregiver Anita Maria Cetina; and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr. The two pilots, Jeff Gregory and Nathalia Filgueiras, also died.
Dashboard camera footage captured the crash. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the plane came down so fast that it "looked like a missile going down." Investigators are searching the crater in the pavement for clues, and on Thursday they recovered part of the plane's engine, CNN reported.
A father and daughter bound by flying
Allan Filgueiras fought back tears at a news conference Friday as he described his daughter. "She's my soulmate," he told CNN. "Having her to talk about aviation. Now, I feel like my life is missing."
Nathalia began flying with her father when she was 12, he said, going up with an instructor aboard while he was learning. By 17 she held her own pilot's license. Her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, told CNN Brasil she earned it before she had a driver's license. According to Federal Aviation Administration records cited by CNN, she later held commercial pilot and flight instructor licenses and was rated to serve as first officer in the Learjet 60.
Her family told CNN Brasil she graduated from American Flyers, a prominent U.S. aviation school. Her father said the Learjet job was a dream realized. He recalled her telling him that she would have paid to do it, but they were paying her. "It was her happiest moment, to fly," he said.
Over time, he said, the roles reversed. FAA records show he received his private pilot certificate in 2021 and holds an instrument rating. Nathalia ran him through drills simulating instrument panel failures so he could practice night flying. "So I became a student, and she became an instructor to keep me sharp and safe," he said. He added that he will continue her legacy: "Each time that I'm gonna be flying, I'm gonna be connecting with her."
The final minutes of the flight
The crew had been working around bad weather for much of the trip, according to audio captured by LiveATC.net and reported by CNN. Less than 20 minutes before the crash, while the plane was near Florida's Gulf Coast, a controller warned that the requested turn toward the Bahamas could lead into a thunderstorm. "The turn to Freeport looks pretty bad," the controller said.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported ice on the aircraft, an outside temperature of -47 degrees Celsius and moderate turbulence. The jet flew south around the storm before it was cleared to turn east. Nathalia later told a West Palm Beach-area controller that turbulence was bouncing the plane up to 700 feet and that light ice was building. "If you have any better rides, let us know," she said. The controller replied that the rides improve in that airspace and that she could expect better ones ahead.
According to the timeline CNN published, the plane took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 10:37 a.m. ET. At 12:47 p.m. ET it turned toward Freeport over Palm Beach County, and the pilot reported manageable ice. At 12:48:00 the pilot asked to climb to 37,000 feet, and controllers approved. About 28 seconds later, the pilot declared "mayday" as the plane began dropping 8,000 feet per minute, then 10,000. By 12:48:36 the descent had reached 20,000 feet per minute, which the pilot said exceeded the aircraft's limits. Her last transmission was "We're out of time."
What the family and investigators say
Attorney Stuart Grossman, who stood beside Allan Filgueiras on Friday, said the family wants to "preserve not just her memory but her reputation." He said they are not making allegations against anyone at this point. "We're going to listen to what the government uncovers," he said, adding that the family's own experts will then review the findings and that "everyone should stay out of the government's way."
Filgueiras said that four days before the crash he and his daughter spent an afternoon together at a boat show and had lunch. He told CNN he felt a brief, unexplained sadness after they parted. "I can't believe that was the last day that I spent with her," he said.
