Florida plane crash: Co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras’ heartbroken dad speaks out after nine killed on Lear60 jet
‘It feels like someone is tearing the heart right out of my chest.’
The heartbroken dad of the 20-year-old co-pilot of the Lear60 jet that crashed this week has broken his silence.
At a news conference on November 6, Allan Filgueiras fought back tears to defend his daughter’s reputation.
On November 1, Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, and their children, Emma and Charlie; friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; and nanny Anita Maria Cetina were travelling from Austin, Texas to the Bahamas on a plane piloted by Jeffrey Gregory and co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The Learjet 60 nosedived into the ground near West Palm Beach and erupted into a fireball, killing all those onboard.
Mr Filgueiras, a pilot himself, told reporters that his 20-year-old daughter was “gifted” and his “soul mate”.
“I wanted to be by her side, inside her plane, to help … I had to be next to her,” he said through tears as his voice broke.
He was emotional for the duration of the press conference.
“It feels like someone is tearing the heart right out of my chest,” Mr Filgueiras said.
“I have to find a way to live and make it through.
“Nathalia doesn’t want to see a father falling apart.
“I’m going to find a way to make her proud.”
He recalled the moment her daughter became a qualified pilot.
“She said, ‘Dad, can you believe — can you believe that I would pay for this, but they’re actually paying me? You know, I would pay for this, but I’m actually getting paid’,” he said.
“So it was her happiest moment to fly.”
Mr Filgueiras was joined by lawyer Stuart Grossman who said the press conference had been called “to preserve not just her memory but her reputation”.
The 20-year-old achieved her pilot license at age 17, before learning to drive, and had logged more than 1300 hours of flight time.
“Nathalia was beyond an average pilot. She was extraordinary,” Mr Grossman said.
He offered their “condolences to everyone who perished — to their families, to their friends — and to make it known that we are suffering along with you”.
Mr Grossman said Nathalia had pursued a career as a pilot to follow in her father’s footsteps, adding that Mr Filgueiras was “the reason why (Nathalia) flew”.
“From the time she was 12 years old … Allan would take her up, and she fell in love with with flying,” he said.
“That compounds our tragedy, knowing this is where it all began.”
Audio recordings from inside the cockpit were widely shared online after the plane nosedived into the ground.
In it, she could be heard communicating with air traffic control as conditions rapidly detoeriorated over a period of mere minutes.
She requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (about 610 meteres) then quickly declared an emergency as the jet lost altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” she radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” she said, before delivering a devastating acknowledgement of what was about to happen.
“We’re going to crash into the ground.”
Mr Filgueiras said he had listened to the harrowing audio “many times”, hoping to find “a clue” into what caused the crash.
“She made me so proud,” he said of his daughter’s final message.
“She showed me what it is to be a hero because once you see death coming, a lot of the big boys, military or whatever, they can’t handle.
“And she was the one over there, to the last minute, fighting.”
An investigation into what caused the crash is ongoing.
