Family identifies 20-year-old co-pilot killed in Palm Beach jet crash
Relatives have identified one of the nine victims of a fiery jet crash captured on harrowing video in Palm Beach County on Sunday.
The aircraft, a Learjet 60 with nine people aboard, was co-piloted by 20-year-old Nathalia G. Filgueiras, her father Allan Filgueiras confirmed to NBC6.
The business jet crashed in Greenacres, about 7 miles southwest of West Palm Beach, at around 12:50 p.m. ET.
It erupted into a ball of flames, killing Filgueiras and the other eight people on board and leaving a fiery crater.
Filgueiras’ sister, Giulia, said their family is Brazilian, and that Filgueiras learned to fly from her father, who is a pilot.
According to her sister, flying was Filgueiras’ greatest passion.
Video recorded by people inside their cars captured the terrifying moment the Bahamas-bound aircraft plunged from the sky, before striking near the roadway and exploding. Flames flickered around chunks of pavement lining the crater as people milled about, expressing shock that it landed only feet from homes and inches from passing vehicles. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site.
“It was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters at the scene. “It looked like a missile going down and left a big crater on the side of the road.”
Pilot declared emergency moments before crash
Rain pounded the region on Sunday. A flood watch due to excessive rainfall was in effect through Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
The aircraft had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to the Bahamas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Authorities did not immediately say what caused the jet to go down or who was on it.
The plane was heading east at 35,000 feet (about 11 kilometers) when pilots reported turbulence, icing and precipitation and requested to climb 2,000 feet (about 610 meters).
Moments later, the plane entered a steep dive, first 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute and up to 30,000 feet per minute, speeding the plane beyond its design limits, according to air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data.
A pilot declared an emergency and issued distress calls. The plane banked sharply to the right before it crashed steeply into the ground.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported ice accumulating on the jet and turbulence that was jolting it by as much as 700 feet, according to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net.
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers.
But the situation rapidly deteriorated. After encountering precipitation and requesting to climb, the pilot declared an emergency as the aircraft began losing altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed, before delivering a devastating acknowledgment of what was about to happen. “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate.
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