Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a 20-year-old copilot, was among nine people killed when a Learjet 60 crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida. (Foto: Instagram)
Allan Filgueiras said he was proud of his daughter, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a 20-year-old Brazilian copilot who died when a Learjet 60 crashed in Florida. Speaking at a news conference Friday, Nov. 6, he praised her courage during the emergency in the moments before the crash.
“She made me very proud. She showed me what it means to be a hero,” he said. “When you see something like that happening, many of the big guys, military personnel or whoever they may be, can’t handle the situation. And she was there, fighting until the very last moment.”
Nathalia was copilot of the Learjet 60 that crashed in a residential area of Palm Beach County on Sunday, Nov. 1. The impact caused an explosion, and the crash killed all nine people aboard. Authorities in the United States are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Allan said he had listened repeatedly to recordings of communications between the crew and air traffic controllers, hoping to find information that could help explain what happened. The recordings captured the emergency as it unfolded: Nathalia reported problems involving ice and turbulence, then declared an emergency and said the aircraft was losing altitude rapidly.
In one transmission, she reported a descent of 10,000 feet per minute. She later described a rate of 20,000 feet per minute, and another recorded comment was, “We’re going to hit the ground.” The aircraft struck the area, leaving a crater in the pavement and debris scattered nearby. Investigators have not announced what caused the crash.
Nathalia was born in Miami and grew up in a Brazilian family. She began studying to become a pilot in 2020, shortly before entering her second year of high school. Her father had started flying recreationally in 2018, and she earned her private pilot’s license in September 2023, at age 17—before she had a driver’s license. Allan said she loved aviation and viewed it as a privilege to work in a field she cared about.
He recalled that when they flew together, he initially instructed her. Later, she became his instructor. She would tell him he was not being as demanding with him as he had been with her, he said, and he would encourage her to be demanding.
The other people aboard were Captain Jeff Gregory, 55; technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44; Robinson’s wife, Helen; their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; and nanny Anita Maria Apellido Cetina. All eight died along with Nathalia.
