The copilot of the Learjet 60 that crashed last Sunday in Greenacres, Palm Beach County, Florida, has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras. She was one of nine fatalities in the air disaster, which left the aircraft destroyed after it slammed into the ground beside a major roadway.
Filgueiras, a resident of Boca Raton, was serving as the copilot on a charter flight operated by the Fort Lauderdale-based company Upper Jets. The flight had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. She had earned her private pilot’s license at age 17—even before learning to drive a car—and had logged more than 1,300 flight hours.
According to air traffic control audio recordings, the crew was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) when they reported severe weather conditions, ice accumulation on the airframe, and turbulence that caused sudden altitude shifts of up to 700 feet.
Seconds after requesting a change in altitude, one of the pilots issued a “mayday” distress call, reporting that the aircraft had entered an uncontrollable dive at speeds exceeding 365 kilometers per hour (227 mph). In the final moments of the transmission, a crew member can be heard saying: “We’re going to crash into the ground; we’ve run out of time.”
The jet struck the ground at high speed in a residential area near the intersection of Military Trail and 10th Avenue North—just meters away from moving traffic and a mobile home park. The impact destroyed a mobile structure, brought down high-voltage power lines, and tore a crater in the pavement from which flames and a thick column of black smoke erupted.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the scene as “cataclysmic,” noting that the aircraft’s descent was akin to the impact of a missile. Despite the magnitude of the explosion and the precautionary evacuation of nearly 600 residents, authorities confirmed that there were no fatalities or injuries on the ground.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy confirmed the deaths of all nine people on board the aircraft. Investigative teams from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have begun field investigations in West Palm Beach to examine the flight data recorder, assess the condition of the fuselage, and determine the definitive cause of the accident.
