Learjet Co-Pilot Killed In Florida Crash Got Flying License In High School

U.S. transportation investigators are focusing on weather conditions following a weekend private plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, that killed nine people. The Learjet 60 departed Austin, Texas, on Sunday heading toward North Eleuthera in the Bahamas before plummeting into a neighborhood. All nine people on board, including a pilot, a copilot, and seven passengers, were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet determined who was flying the aircraft when it encountered trouble.

According to the New Straits Times, U.S. media identified the copilot as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgeiras, who had accumulated 1,300 flight hours and had been working for a Fort Lauderdale-based charter company for approximately nine months. NDTV reports that Filgeiras earned her pilot's license in 2023 as a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School.

An audio recording from an air traffic website captured a person in the cockpit reporting moderate turbulence and stating the crew was managing ice and picking up precipitation. The individual indicated the plane needed to climb before declaring a "Mayday" and stating the aircraft was descending at 10,000 feet per minute. Authorities stated that genetic analysis is required to identify the victims.

Brief written by urgent.news from NDTV, Hindustan Times - World News, New Straits Times — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.