A 20-year-old woman has been identified as the co-pilot pleading for help before the $2 million private Learjet crashed into the ground outside of Palm Springs, Florida.
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Who Is the Co-Pilot of the Doomed Learjet?
As the New York Post reports, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras has been identified as the co-pilot of the doomed Learjet. She earned her pilot license at 17, before she had even had her driver's license.
Filgueiras' mother and stepfather told the outlet that Filgueiras was co-piloting the flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. They said she had been working as a commercial pilot for nine months. Filgueiras would have turned 21 in January.
"I wanted her to live her dream, but I knew that her dream was going to be the thing that would take her away from me," Filgueiras' mother said.
She added, "I knew that a plane was gonna take her away from me. I always knew it, but I was so proud of her. I know she was living her dream."
Filgueiras' stepfather said that his stepdaughter had 1,300 hours of flying experience.
The Pilot Texted Her Boyfriend Before the Crash
According to her stepfather, Filgueiras texted her boyfriend 10 minutes before the plane crash.
"She just said, 'I've got turbulence, I've got ice,'" he said.
Filgueiras grew up in Palm Beach County and began pilot lessons in 2020. She was also taught by her dad, who learned how to fly in 2018. Social media posts show the two flying in private jets. The School District of Palm Beach County's Aviation Academy paid for her pilot's license in 2023, the same year the program launched.
"One day after flying with him, she came home, and we were in our room, and she walked in, and she said, 'I'm gonna be a pilot,' and I said, 'No, you won't,'" her mother said.
The young pilot wanted to become a commercial airline pilot one day. However, her family said she was too young to apply for a job at American Airlines.
"I like being different than everyone, so to me I think it's cool that it's not really an opportunity," Filgueiras said in 2023. "I just didn't do it, and this is how it ended up. But I think it's cool. Some people think that it's weird that I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car. I mean, I can, but a lot of people think it's funny. I think it's funny, and I now want my [driver's] license really bad."
Authorities have yet to identify any of the other eight people on the Learjet flight.
