WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A Florida father is remembering the daughter who learned to fly beside him and then built her own career in aviation, just days after she died in the crash of a Learjet 60 that plunged into a South Florida roadway. Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was the copilot on the flight that went down last Sunday, killing all nine people aboard.
Allan Filgueiras said Friday that his daughter was more than a pilot to him; she was the person he talked to most about aviation. He described her as his “soulmate” and said her death has left his life feeling incomplete. The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is examining weather, the aircraft and other possible factors.
A father and daughter bonded by flying
Filgueiras said his daughter’s love of flight began early. She started riding in planes with him when she was 12, watching the world fall away below them as he flew. By 17, she had earned her own pilot’s license, following a path that mirrored his own passion for aviation.
The two later reversed roles. He said Nathalia would run him through drills, including simulated instrument failures, so he could stay sharp and safe during night flying. She even pushed him to repeat exercises when she thought he could do better. Filgueiras said those sessions showed how skilled she had become and how proud he was to learn from her.
He also said they shared one thing above all else: a long-running obsession with flying. When they were together, he said, aviation was the only topic they wanted to discuss.
What Nathalia Filgueiras was doing in aviation at age 20
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Filgueiras held commercial pilot and flight instructor licenses and was rated to fly larger, more complex aircraft. That qualification made her eligible to serve as a first officer on the Learjet 60, a role she had reached after years of training and study.
Her family told CNN Brasil that she graduated from American Flyers, an aviation school in the United States. Her father said the job had been the dream she had worked toward for years. He recalled her telling him she could hardly believe she was being paid to do the work she loved.
Filgueiras had also spoken publicly about how unusual her path felt to some people. In a 2023 interview with WPEC, she said she liked being different and had set her sights on becoming either a commercial airline pilot or a private jet pilot. She even got her pilot’s license before her driver’s license.
Inside the final minutes of the Learjet flight
The Learjet 60 was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when the crash happened. The jet carried seven passengers, including tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, their children Emma and Charlie, caregiver Anita Maria Cetina, and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, in addition to Filgueiras and pilot Jeff Gregory.
Audio from the flight’s final minutes captures a rapid deterioration. Filgueiras first reported turbulence and manageable icing, then declared an emergency as the aircraft began to descend at extreme speed. In her last transmission, she said, “We’re out of time.” A dashboard camera also recorded the crash.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the jet came down so quickly that it “looked like a missile going down.” Investigators are still searching the impact crater for clues to what caused the sudden catastrophe.
Storms, turbulence and ice are central to the NTSB inquiry
Investigators say the flight encountered bad weather for much of the trip before the crash. Less than 20 minutes before impact, an air traffic controller warned the crew that a requested turn toward Freeport could take them into a thunderstorm. The controller described moderate to extreme precipitation nearby and said the storm system was about 100 miles in diameter.
The jet then arced south around the weather before being cleared to turn east. Later, when Filgueiras checked in with another controller, she reported turbulence bouncing the aircraft up to 700 feet and said light ice was forming on the plane. She asked for a better ride, and the controller said conditions ahead should improve.
Moments later, she requested a climb to 37,000 feet. Less than 30 seconds after that approval, the aircraft began its fatal descent. NTSB member Tom Chapman said weather is “certainly a key focus” of the investigation, though officials have not yet said whether it caused the crash.
Wreckage recovery and missing cockpit equipment could answer key questions
One important clue turned up miles from the crash scene. Chapman said most of the jet’s left elevator, the tail section that helps control whether the nose rises or falls, was found in three pieces between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the crater. That suggests the part separated before the impact, but investigators do not yet know whether that failure caused the dive or happened because of it.
The NTSB is also looking for the rest of the wreckage and for a cockpit voice recorder. Maintenance records show the aircraft had one installed, but officials have not confirmed whether it remained on board. Some recovered pieces have already been sent to NTSB laboratories in Washington for inspection.
The agency said its on-scene work is complete except for excavation at the impact site, which is still continuing. Chapman said the goal is not only to determine what happened, but why, so the agency can recommend safety changes to prevent a similar disaster.
A family remembers a life built around aviation
Filgueiras’ relatives described her as responsible, hardworking and deeply committed to flying. Her mother, Camila Gadelha Corteleti, said the family is Brazilian but lives in Florida, where Nathalia was born. Her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, said she had become licensed as a pilot before she ever got a driver’s license.
Her father said the last full day they spent together was only four days before the crash, when they attended a boat show and had lunch. He said he felt an unexplained sadness when they said goodbye, a feeling he now cannot forget. After the news conference, he said he intends to keep flying and continue his daughter’s legacy.
“Each time that I’m gonna be flying, I’m gonna be connecting with her,” he said. “I want to make her proud.”