Dad of Copilot in Deadly Plane Crash 'Wanted to Be By Her Side'

The father of the 20-year-old copilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who tragically died in a plane crash in South Florida, expressed his desire to have been beside her in the cockpit. Nathalia Filgueiras was among the nine individuals who lost their lives when the Learjet 60 aircraft plummeted into a residential area in Palm Beach County on November 1, after departing from Austin, Texas, for the Bahamas.

The cause of the crash remains undetermined. During a somber press conference, Filgueiras' father, Allan Filgueiras, referred to his daughter as "gifted" and his "soulmate," adding that he "wanted to be by her side, inside the plane, to help her, to be by her. I had to be next to her." He explained that he had repeatedly listened to her final radio transmissions to seek answers about the incident and expressed his pride in how she handled the crisis.

Nathalia Filgueiras was first heard communicating with air traffic control about ice buildup on the plane while navigating through a thunderstorm. Despite turbulence causing the aircraft to oscillate by 700 feet (200 meters), the situation quickly deteriorated as the plane plummeted at an alarming speed. Nathalia Filgueiras' father, Allan Filgueiras, emphasized that she was "at the top of her class in everything that she did" and that she was "perfectly qualified to be the co-pilot on this flight, despite her tender years."

The pilot's attorney, Stuart Grossman, pointed out that Filgueiras had over 1,300 hours of experience and had undergone extensive training to attain her commercial pilot's license and Learjet certification. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash, and so far, the cockpit recorder is missing. Allan Filgueiras recounted how he had taught his daughter to fly, taking her up for the first time when she was just 12 years old.

He remembered her telling him, "It was her happiest moment, to fly," upon securing a job as a pilot. Her mentor, Chris Kirk, praised her dedication and perseverance, emphasizing that she had earned her position through hard work and long hours. The plane was reportedly accelerating beyond its design limits when it fell, pieces of its tail discovered miles away from the crash site, located in a deep crater on the edge of a road.

The plane was en route east at 35,000 feet when pilots reported turbulence, icing, and precipitation, requesting to climb an additional 2,000 feet. Shortly after, the aircraft entered a steep dive, initially at 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 feet per minute, and possibly up to 30,000 feet per minute, exceeding its design limits as per air traffic control recordings and flight tracking data.

A pilot declared an emergency and issued distress calls, and the plane executed a sharp banking to the right before impacting the ground. Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported ice accumulation on the jet and turbulence that jolted it by as much as 700 feet (213 meters). The final radio transmissions from the pilot included declarations of an emergency, declaring a mayday and an overspeed condition at 20,000 feet per minute, followed by the devastating acknowledgment: "We're going to crash into the ground."

The victims included passengers Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, their children Emma and Charlie, Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr, and Anita Maria Cetina, as well as the 55-year-old captain, Jeff Gregory.