Nathalia Filgueiras among those killed
Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, died in a Learjet 60 crash in Palm Beach county on Sunday. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, told the New York Times that the co-pilot worked for Upper Jets, a private charter firm based in Fort Lauderdale. Filgueiras graduated from high school in Boca Raton in 2024 and held a private pilot’s license. The private Learjet 60, which was flying from Austin-Bergstrom international airport in Texas to North Eleuthera airport in the Bahamas, crashed near a mobile home park in Greenacres at 12:50pm local time on a Sunday afternoon. The impact caused an explosion and left a large crater in the ground. Social media videos show the aircraft striking the ground almost vertically at a high rate of speed. I find the suddenness of the descent described by witnesses to be harrowing. The crash killed nine people. No one on the ground died or sustained injuries, according to Governor Ron DeSantis. The Catholic diocese of Palm Beach dedicated an All Souls’ Day Mass on Monday to the nine victims.
Cockpit audio reveals terrifying descent
Air traffic control audio from the final moments of the flight captures a female voice reporting ice buildup on the wings and requesting a climb to 37,000ft. Shortly afterward, the woman declared a mayday and stated the aircraft, tail number N722BD, was descending at more than 20,000ft a minute. The recording ended with her shouting, "Holy fuck, we’re out of time," while air traffic controllers tried to re-establish contact. Aviation expert Bob Clifford said the pilots flew into a thunderstorm and into the red zone. He noted that Lear 60 aircraft act like rocket ships and leave little margin of error for pilots. Clifford also suggested that air traffic control may have lacked proactivity regarding the aircraft’s flight path. He expects there to be finger pointing about why the pilots did what they did and why air traffic control allowed it. I find his critique of the air traffic controllers blunt and accurate. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are examining weather conditions. The thunderstorm outbreak briefly closed Miami international airport and forced commercial airliners to divert. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the incident a "horrific tragedy" on X. Bombardier said they will support the investigating authorities.
