Authorities and family members have confirmed the idenтιтy of the co-pilot killed in a fatal Learjet 60 crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, on November 1, 2026. Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a 20-year-old aviator from the Boca Raton area, was one of nine people who died when the private jet plunged into a residential neighborhood in Greenacres.

The aircraft had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Shortly before 1 p.m. local time, it entered a rapid descent, losing alтιтude at an extreme rate before striking the ground. The impact created a large crater, ignited a fire, and destroyed the plane. All those on board perished.

Filgueiras’s mother, Camila, and her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, identified her to reporters the day after the accident. They said she had been working as a commercial pilot for approximately nine months and had logged around 1,300 hours of flight time. She was scheduled to turn 21 in January. In emotional comments, her mother expressed both deep pride in her daughter’s accomplishments and a longstanding fear that aviation might one day separate them. “I knew that a plane was going to take her away from me,” Camila said, while adding that she remained proud Nathalia had been living her dream.

Filgueiras’s path into aviation began early. She started lessons as a teenager and earned her private pilot’s license in October 2023 while still a senior at West Boca Raton High School — before she had obtained a driver’s license. Local news outlets featured her at the time for the unusual achievement. She later trained further, became a certified flight instructor, and worked at aviation schools in South Florida before taking on commercial pilot roles. Her family said her ultimate goal was to fly for a major airline.

In the final minutes of the flight, Filgueiras texted her boyfriend, also a pilot, mentioning turbulence and ice on the aircraft. Air traffic control recordings captured urgent communications from the cockpit as the situation deteriorated, including mayday calls and reports of a rapidly increasing rate of descent.

Other pᴀssengers on the flight included members of a Texas family traveling with young children, along with additional companions and a nanny. Identification of all victims continued in the days following the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the cause, while local officials addressed the impact on residents near the crash site, some of whom were temporarily displaced.

Those who knew Filgueiras described a determined young woman who had pursued flying with pᴀssion from an early age after experiences in small aircraft with her father. She often shared her enthusiasm for aviation on social media and spoke openly about how unusual it felt to hold a pilot’s license while still too young to drive.

The investigation into the circumstances of the crash remains ongoing. Further details from the NTSB and other authorities are expected as the probe advances.