RIP Nathalia Filgueiras: 20-Year-Old Co-Pilot Among Nine Killed in Palm Beach Learjet 60 Crash

Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras dreamed of flying since she was 12 years old. By 17, she had her pilot's licence — before she even had a driver's licence. On Sunday 1 November 2026, the 20-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, was the co-pilot of a Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County, killing all nine people on board. Her family says she fought until the last moment.

The aircraft, operated by the Fort Lauderdale charter firm Upper Jets, had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas that morning, bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. At around 12:50 p.m. Eastern Time, while cruising above Florida at 35,000 feet, the crew reported moderate turbulence and ice build-up to air traffic control. What followed was a rapid, catastrophic descent. The jet struck the ground near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North in the Greenacres area, leaving a crater and scattering debris across the neighbourhood. One person on the ground suffered a leg injury; around 600 nearby residents were evacuated.

THE FINAL MAYDAY

Air traffic control recordings, widely reported by US media, capture Filgueiras herself making the distress call. She declared 'Mayday, mayday,' reported the aircraft was descending at 10,000 feet per minute and losing control, and in her final transmission told controllers they were going to crash into the ground. Minutes earlier, she had texted her boyfriend — himself a pilot — about the turbulence and ice. Outside temperatures at altitude were around minus 47 degrees Celsius, and the crew had requested clearance to climb higher to escape a thunderstorm generating ice and turbulence.

Her sister Giulia, 21, told reporters outside the family's Boca Raton home on Monday that Nathalia 'fought until the last moment she could,' calling her a brave, amazing girl who showed 'any girl could do what it takes.' Her mother, Camila Corteleti, told the New York Times and New York Post that her daughter had logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time and had been working as a commercial pilot for about nine months. Her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, told the Wall Street Journal: 'All we know is that our daughter is down there, under the ground with that airplane.'

NINE LIVES, ONE INVESTIGATION

The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed on Monday that all nine people aboard died — two crew members and seven passengers. NTSB member Thomas Chapman, who is leading the investigation with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration, said weather conditions are 'a major focus of the investigation.' Investigators will examine whether ice and sub-zero temperatures played a role, and whether the aircraft began to break apart before it struck the ground. The cause of the crash has not been determined.

The captain was Jeff Gregory, 55. Family members identified the seven passengers as Texas tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp — a ceramic artist and PR agency founder — and their two children, aged 4 and 2, along with the children's nanny and two friends, Rachel Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office was working on Monday to officially identify all nine victims.

A DEFENCE AGAINST THE TROLLS

In the hours after the crash, Filgueiras became the target of cruel online commentary questioning the competence of a 20-year-old co-pilot. On Monday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman pushed back publicly on his personal X account, defending her. Isaacman pointed out that Filgueiras was the second-in-command, communicating with air traffic controllers 'right to the end in a terrifying situation,' and cautioned the public against drawing conclusions before investigators complete their work. 'She likely knew before many of those calls that she was going to die,' he wrote.

It is a defence the facts support. A 20-year-old with 1,300 hours, a commercial licence earned through the same training and examination system as every other professional pilot, doing her job on the radio while the aircraft fell out of the sky around her — that is the record of Nathalia Filgueiras's final minutes, as captured on the ATC tapes. The tributes pouring in on social media tell the other half of the story: a young woman from a Brazilian immigrant family in Boca Raton who decided at 12 that she would fly, and did.

BuzzDaily extends its condolences to the families of all nine victims. The NTSB investigation continues.