A 20-year-old co-pilot sent her boyfriend a haunting six-word message about the conditions aboard a private jet just minutes before it crashed, killing everyone on board.
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was among nine people who died when the Learjet 60 plunged into a Florida neighbourhood on Sunday, November 1.
The aircraft was travelling from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it came down near Greenacres in Palm Beach County at around 12.50pm local time.
It erupted into a huge fireball on impact, leaving a crater in the ground and scattering wreckage across the surrounding area.
Recordings of the crew’s final communications with air traffic control have since revealed the terrifying speed at which the situation deteriorated.
But a separate message sent by Filgueiras to her boyfriend shortly before the crash has provided another insight into what was happening aboard the aircraft in its final moments.
Private jet crashes into Florida neighbourhood
The Learjet 60 crashed on Military Trail, a six-lane road in Palm Beach County, at approximately 12.50pm on Sunday.
It had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was heading towards the Bahamas when it encountered serious problems during the flight.
Footage captured the aircraft plunging towards the ground before exploding into a huge fireball.
The impact left a large crater near the entrance to a mobile home community, while debris was scattered across nearby homes, businesses and sports fields.
The crash prompted a major emergency response, with around 600 people from a nearby mobile home community evacuated while authorities examined the scene.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel G Flores said a shelter had been set up for residents who had been displaced.
However, officials were unable to say when people would be able to return to their homes.
“Our concern right now is clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal,” Flores said.
“We don’t really have a timeline as to when they are going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything they need to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers.”
One person travelling in a car on the ground suffered a leg injury. All nine people aboard the jet were killed.
Investigators believe aircraft may have broken apart before impact
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating what caused the aircraft to crash.
During a news conference on Monday, officials revealed they had found evidence suggesting parts of the jet may have broken away before it hit the ground.
NTSB member Tom Chapman said: “We do have some evidence that there was some breakup of the aircraft before impact.”
He added: “We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.”
Recovering the wreckage is expected to be particularly challenging because of the large crater created by the impact.
Lead investigator Tim Monville explained that the crater was partially filled with water following severe storms in the area.
“The biggest obstacle that we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway,” he said.
Investigators are also hoping to recover the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder, which could help establish what the crew were discussing as the emergency unfolded.
Officials have stressed that they do not yet have a probable cause for the crash and are not prepared to speculate.
Weather conditions being examined after crew report ice and turbulence
Weather conditions are expected to be a major focus of the investigation.
The crew had been flying at around 35,000 feet when they began reporting turbulence, icing and precipitation.
According to the communications released so far, the pilots initially described moderate turbulence and said they were managing light, clear ice.
However, the situation appeared to change rapidly.
The crew subsequently contacted air traffic control to say they were picking up precipitation and requested permission to climb to 37,000 feet.
NTSB member Chapman said the request was received around three minutes before the crash.
The aircraft was then issued with a mayday call around 30 seconds after the request, with the crew reporting that they were descending rapidly.
The Federal Aviation Administration had issued a warning about thunderstorms before the incident, while severe weather was reported in the area.
Investigators are now working to establish what conditions the aircraft encountered at altitude and whether they contributed to the loss of control.
Commercial pilot and Jettly CEO Justin Crabbe told LADbible that ice accumulating on an aircraft’s wings can significantly affect how it flies.
He explained that ice “changes the shape of the wings, reduces lift, increases drag and can make the aircraft much more difficult to control”.
He also suggested that icing could potentially have made an already turbulent situation worse.
However, the precise cause remains unknown.
Pilot’s final words reveal desperate attempts to avoid disaster
The cockpit recordings have provided a particularly distressing account of the aircraft’s final moments.
The pilot initially reported that the jet was descending at 8,000 feet per minute before issuing an urgent mayday call.
“We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000ft per minute,” the pilot could be heard saying.
The crew then reported an overspeed condition, with the aircraft continuing to lose altitude at an alarming rate.
At one point, the descent was reported to have reached 20,000 feet per minute.
The pilot then issued a terrifying warning.
“We’re going to crash into the ground,” they said.
The air traffic controller tried to keep the crew talking, responding: “I’m here, with you. Talk to me!”
But the aircraft was continuing its descent.
In the final moments, a woman’s voice could be heard shouting: “Look outside, we’re out of time!”
The recording then cut out as the aircraft hit the ground and erupted into flames.
Nine people killed as identities of victims emerge
All nine people aboard the Learjet died in the crash, with the identities of the victims beginning to emerge in the aftermath.
Among those killed were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their two young children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two.
Anita Maria Cetina, who helped care for the children, was also among the passengers.
The families of Robinson, Sharp, Cetina, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr released a joint statement paying tribute to their loved ones.
Robinson and Sharp were described as “devoted parents”, with their children remembered as “the light of their lives”.
“Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever. Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives,” the statement read.
Cetina was praised for the care she gave Emma and Charlie, with the family saying she had been a genuine part of their lives.
It added: “She showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion.”
Reed and Fehr were described as “full of joy and adventure”.
“They loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation. From the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building,” their loved ones said.
The pilot was identified in media reports as Jeffery Gregory, while the co-pilot was 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras.
Her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed that her daughter had died in the crash.
Filgueiras had earned her pilot’s licence while still in high school, at the age of 17.
Speaking in a 2023 interview with a local CBS News affiliate, she said: “I like being different than everyone.”
She added: “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.”
Her mother told the New York Times that Filgueiras loved the freedom that came with flying.
“She loved the freedom. It was completely different seeing the world from the top,” Corteleti said.
Six-word message co-pilot sent boyfriend minutes before crash
Now, further details have emerged about Filgueiras’s final moments, after her stepfather revealed that she had been messaging her boyfriend shortly before the aircraft went down.
Thiago Corteleti told the New York Post that the 20-year-old had sent the message at around 12.40pm, approximately 10 minutes before the crash.
“She texted her boyfriend, I think, at 12:40 pm and the accident was at 12:50 pm,” he said.
He then revealed the six words she had sent as she described the conditions the aircraft was experiencing.
“She just said, ‘I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice’,” Corteleti explained.
The message offers a heartbreaking glimpse into what Filgueiras was experiencing shortly before the disaster, particularly as investigators examine the possible role of weather conditions.
It also came just minutes before the crew began reporting an increasingly serious emergency to air traffic control.
The NTSB has yet to establish what caused the Learjet to crash, with investigators continuing to recover evidence from the scene and hoping to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder.
For Filgueiras’s family, however, the final message is a devastating reminder of how little time passed between her describing the conditions aboard the aircraft and the fatal impact.
