CRESTHAVEN, Fla. — Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a 20-year-old aviator who famously earned her pilot’s license before her driver’s license, has been identified by family members as the co-pilot aboard the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County on Sunday.
Filgueiras, a West Boca Raton High School graduate who had logged over 1,300 flight hours, was second-in-command during the flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. Just ten minutes before the fatal descent, Filgueiras sent a final text message to her boyfriend—also a licensed pilot—reporting light icing and moderate turbulence.
Moments later, the aircraft suffered a sudden overspeed condition and plunged from 35,000 feet, taking a steep right turn before crashing near a residential neighborhood. All nine occupants on board, including Filgueiras, captain Jeff Gregory, and seven passengers, lost their lives in the impact.
“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,” her mother, Camila Corteleti, shared in a moving statement.
Federal investigators from the NTSB and FAA remain on scene assessing radar data, radio transcripts, and scattered wreckage to determine the exact cause of the breakup and crash.