A small jet, Learjet 60, crashed and exploded in Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people on board, according to US media reports. The aircraft was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it crashed near West Palm Beach. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that the copilot, Nathalia Filgueiras, was 20 years old and had earned her pilot's licence at 17.
The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash, including the possible role of ice and turbulence. The crew had transmitted to air traffic control that they were encountering ice and moderate turbulence. The aircraft nosedived onto a street near Cresthaven, nine miles from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, injuring one person on the ground.
The flight analysis indicates that the jet was plummeting hundreds of feet per second before crashing. In air traffic control audio, a crew member declared an emergency, shouting "we are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000ft per minute", before saying, "we are going to crash into the ground". The last remark from the cockpit was "we're out of time".
Nathalia Filgueiras's mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed to US media that her daughter had died in the fireball. Filgueiras had spoken proudly of receiving her pilot's licence while still a senior in high school, saying she loved the freedom of flying. In a 2023 interview, she mentioned that people often found it unusual that she could fly planes but not drive a car.
The NTSB said that ice and turbulence were factors in the crash. Officials are trying to find out whether a cockpit voice recorder was on board and if it can be recovered. The investigation will be a "lengthy investigatory process", involving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Learjet representatives, meteorologists, and air traffic control experts.
Recovering the wreckage from the crater on the roadway will be a "daunting challenge", according to Timothy Monville, an air safety investigator with the NTSB. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened on Military Trail, a six-lane road lined with businesses and restaurants, during thunderstorms in the area.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the crash as a "horrific tragedy", while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed similar sentiments. President Trump was at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday morning and departed from a nearby airport on Air Force One about an hour before the crash.
Key points
- The copilot, Nathalia Filgueiras, was 20 years old and had earned her pilot's licence at 17.
- The NTSB is investigating the role of ice and turbulence in the crash.
- The crash occurred near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
