A day after a private jet crashed in South Florida, killing all nine people aboard, new details emerged Monday about the victims and the dramatic final moments before the disaster.
Among those killed was Natalia Gedalia Filgueiras, a 20-year-old co-pilot who had dreamed of flying since childhood. In chilling recordings of the aircraft's final communications, her voice can be heard reporting that the plane was rapidly losing altitude and shouting, "Mayday, mayday, we're losing altitude." Moments later, she can be heard warning, "We're going to crash."
Watch new footage of the crash, filmed from a car camera:
Footage of plane crash in Florida
Filgueiras' mother, Camila Corteletti, said Monday that she had always feared her daughter's passion for aviation would come at a terrible price. "I always knew a plane would take her away from me," she said.
Meanwhile, U.S. aviation investigators revealed a potentially significant new finding: Evidence suggests that parts of the aircraft may have separated from it before it struck the ground.
Dashcam footage of the plane crash
A young pilot who earned her wings before her driver's license
The crash occurred Sunday near Greenacres in Palm Beach County. Among the nine victims were technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44, of Austin, Texas, his wife, Helen, and their two young children, 4-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Charlie.
Also killed were the children's nanny, Anita, and two close family friends, Rachel Reed and Charmy Pehr. A relative described the devastating loss, saying, "This is an incredibly difficult blow. We lost a daughter, her husband and two grandchildren."
The aircraft's captain was identified as Jeff Gregory, 55, an experienced pilot from Pennsylvania. Gregory was flying the Learjet 60 business jet, with Filgueiras seated beside him as co-pilot.
Radio communication recordings from the last moments before the plane in Florida crashed
Filgueiras' story has drawn particular attention in the United States following the resurfacing of a 2023 interview she gave to local television station CBS12 when she was just 17 and still in high school.
In the interview, she excitedly described how she had earned her pilot's license before obtaining a driver's license. "I'm definitely proud of that because people tell me, 'You can't drive,' and I tell them, 'Yeah, but I can fly,'" she said with a smile.
Raised in Florida in a family of Brazilian descent, Filgueiras had dreamed of becoming a pilot since she was 12. Her mother recalled how she used to visit Boca Raton Airport with her father to watch aircraft take off and land. Her father, who also flew recreationally, encouraged her interest in aviation, and she began taking flying lessons while still in high school.
Scene of the crash
(Photo: From the X account @prolific369 )
In September 2023, at age 17, she obtained her private pilot's license. She later completed additional training, worked as a flight instructor and accumulated more than 1,300 flight hours. In recent months, she had been working as a commercial pilot for a private aviation company based in Fort Lauderdale, with hopes of eventually pursuing a career at a major airline.
Her mother said she was immensely proud of her daughter's accomplishments, although she had never been able to overcome her fears about the profession Natalia had chosen. She described her daughter as responsible and hardworking, someone who had dedicated her life to achieving her dream. "She was at work," her mother emphasized after learning of the disaster.
According to U.S. reports, about 10 minutes before the crash, Filgueiras managed to send a message to her partner describing turbulence and ice accumulating on the aircraft.
'Mayday, mayday': Desperate calls from the cockpit
Recordings of communications with air traffic controllers reveal the sequence of events leading up to the crash.
The plane, which had departed Austin, Texas, and was heading to the Bahamas, was flying at approximately 35,000 feet (10.7 kilometers) when one of the pilots reported difficult weather conditions. "We have a light layer of clear ice that we're managing, and moderate turbulence," one of the pilots told air traffic control.
Adam and Helen Robinson with their two children: Killed on the way to the Bahama
(Credit: Family Handout)
According to the recordings, the turbulence caused the aircraft's altitude to fluctuate by hundreds of meters. The crew subsequently requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (610 meters) in an attempt to escape the difficult conditions.
Within a short time, however, the situation deteriorated rapidly.
The aircraft began descending sharply, and one of the pilots declared an emergency. "We're losing altitude at 8,000 feet per minute. Mayday, mayday. We're losing 10,000 feet per minute," a pilot can be heard saying.
Moments later, another transmission reported that the plane had exceeded its permitted airspeed and that its descent rate had reached 20,000 feet per minute, more than six kilometers a minute.
"We're going to crash," Filgueiras was heard saying in one of the final distress calls.
Recordings released in the United States also captured shouting from the cockpit, while some reports suggested that one crew member could be heard praying during the final moments.
Investigators suspect aircraft began breaking apart in midair
At a news conference Monday evening, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman said investigators had found indications that the aircraft began breaking apart before hitting the ground. "We have indications that the aircraft began breaking apart before impact," Chapman said. "We may find parts of the aircraft at a considerable distance from the crash site itself."
The finding could prove significant in determining the cause of the disaster. Investigators are examining whether ice accumulation, turbulence and the aircraft's excessive speed were connected to the loss of control and possible structural breakup.
Footage from the scene of the crash
(Video: From the X account @prolific369 )
However, no cause has been established at this stage. It also remains unclear whether the apparent midair breakup contributed to the crash or resulted from the aircraft's loss of control. Flight-tracking data showed the plane losing tens of thousands of feet in approximately one minute.
Dramatic dashcam footage captured the aircraft making a sharp right turn before plunging toward the ground at a steep angle and exploding into an enormous fireball near residential buildings and a road carrying traffic. The impact left a large crater in the road and scattered aircraft debris across a wide area.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who visited the scene, described the force of the impact. "It was a catastrophic crash. It looked like a missile diving into the ground and leaving a huge crater beside the road," he said.
'Everything was on fire'
Despite the violence of the crash and its location in a populated area, authorities said no deaths or injuries were reported among people on the ground. At least one nearby home was damaged, however, and several roads in the area were closed to traffic.
"Debris was everywhere. Debris hit my house. Everything was on fire, the whole road was burning," Anthony Blackmon, a resident who lives near the crash site, told NBC. "I've always seen things like this on the news, but I never thought it would happen so close to me."
Authorities said hundreds of area residents had been affected by the disaster. People living in approximately 77 nearby mobile homes were evacuated to temporary shelter, and it remains unclear when they will be allowed to return.
County officials said the crash site would remain closed until evidence collection was completed and warned that the investigation could take considerable time. Aviation investigators continue to examine the wreckage, flight data and radio communications to determine what caused the aircraft to descend at such an extraordinary speed.