The young woman was featured locally for earning her pilot’s license in high school.
By Catholics for Catholics
The fated Learjet co-pilot perceived pleading for aid in an agonizing air traffic control audio prior to a fiery Florida crash has been identified as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras – a 20-year-old who achieved her pilot license while still in high school.
Camila, Filgueiras’s mother, and her stepfather confirmed to The Post that she was the co-pilot flying a Learjet 60 from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it entered a steep nosedive – plunging at over 20,000 feet per minute – and crashed into the ground in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon.
The inconsolable mom said that her daughter, who would have turned 21 in January, had been working as a commercial pilot for nine months, according to a story by the Daily Wire.
On Sunday evening, speculation grew online that Filgueiras was the co-pilot heard in shocking audio communicating to air traffic control that the jet was going to crash into the ground. Filgueiras, in her TikTok videos, commonly posted her flying trips. One video appears to show the young woman in the cockpit of the jet that crashed on Sunday.
In the audio, reported by The Daily Wire, the co-pilot is heard screaming while speaking to air traffic control, and her last chilling message was “Holy f*ck, we’re out of time!”
The co-pilot of the Learjet that crashed into the ground in Florida has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras, texted her boyfriend just 10 minutes before the crash. Filgueiras’ mother said she "always knew" a plane would "take her away from me." The pilot was flying to the Bahamas when the plane plummeted 20,000 feet per minute into the ground. "I wanted her to live her dream, but I knew that her dream was going to be the thing that would take her away from me," her mother told the New York Post. "I knew that a plane was gonna take her away from me. I always knew it, but I was so proud of her. I know she was living her dream." Just 10 minutes before the crash, Filgueiras reportedly texted her boyfriend: "I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice." The female pilot got her pilot license in high school. Her stepfather says she had 1,300 hours of experience. In a social media post, Filgueiras boasted about how young she was as a pilot with her boyfriend. "How often do you see 2 pilots under 21 with a commercial, multi-engine, instrument, CFI/CFI-I," she said. 8 other people were on board the jet when it crashed. They have yet to be identified.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 2, 2026
According to the Wire story, Filgueiras was still a senior at West Boca Raton High School when she nabbed her pilot’s license. She was featured at the time in local media reports for accomplishing the feat before getting her driver’s license. Then, just 17, she joked that while she couldn’t drive, she could fly.
In 2020, Filgueiras started taking flying lessons and had logged 88 flight hours and by the time she received her license, according to the New York Post. The School District of Palm Beach County’s Aviation Academy funded her training, and she later graduated from American Flyers flight school with aspirations to become a commercial airline pilot.
Experts believe severe weather could have played a role in the jet’s rapid descent and crash. One aviation expert told South Florida outlet WPEC that a line of severe thunderstorms in South Florida on Sunday could have damaged the Learjet if the pilot flew into the rough air.
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