The 20-year-old co-pilot of the Learjet that crashed in Florida last weekend was remembered by her flight instructor as “the most naturally gifted pilot” he had ever taught—someone who was “born to fly.”
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras earned her pilot’s license while still in high school, before she was even old enough to drive. Longtime instructor Chris Kirk said she “aced” every flight exam, sharing a selfie of the two smiling together in the cockpit.
“She was without a doubt the most naturally gifted pilot I have ever taught, and I have been teaching for 40 years!!” Kirk wrote on Facebook, proudly noting that he was among her first instructors.
“That young lady was born to fly! There was not a check ride that the examiner was not blown away!”
Nathalia also “absolutely aced” her pilot-in-command training for the Learjet, Kirk said. One examiner even assumed she had recorded 5,000 flight hours, when she had actually logged just under 1,100.
Pilot-in-command training qualifies a pilot to serve as the captain or sole pilot of a particular type of aircraft.
The $2 million Learjet 60 was flying from Texas to the Bahamas Sunday when it stalled while trying to climb over a storm. The aircraft then plunged toward the streets of Palm Beach.
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As the jet rapidly descended, Nathalia, who was serving as co-pilot, issued a frantic mayday call to air traffic control.
“722 Bravo Delta, we’re descending 8,000 Mayday, Mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!” she was heard saying.
Nathalia continued reporting the aircraft’s speed and altitude to air traffic controllers before warning that the plane was about to “crash into the ground” and that they were “out of time.” Moments later, the Learjet struck the ground in a massive fireball, killing everyone aboard.
Her mother, Camila, told The Post that Nathalia, who would have turned 21 in January, had worked as a commercial pilot for nine months.
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“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,” the grieving mother said from her home in Palm Beach County.
“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,” she said.
