The young copilot on a doomed Learjet texted her fellow pilot boyfriend to say she was experiencing turbulence just minutes before the plane crashed in Florida, killing all onboard, her heartbroken family told The Post.
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, was in communication with her loved ones and with air traffic control up until the moment the plane nosedived and hit the ground at speed in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon.
“She texted her boyfriend, I think, at 12:40 p.m. and the accident was at 12:50 p.m.,” Filgueiras’ stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, 44, told The Post from his home in Florida.
“She just said, ‘I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice,’” he added.
Despite her young age, the 20-year-old pilot already had some 1,300 hours of flying experience, her proud family revealed.
Filgueiras frequently flew with her boyfriend and often shared pictures and videos of the young couple in the sky.
Here’s the latest on the fatal Learjet crash in Florida
Her co-pilot in Sunday’s flight has not been identified. He appears to be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer in harrowing audio of their final seconds as Filgueiras screams about them plummeting to their deaths.
Filgueiras, who grew up in Palm Beach County, was previously featured in local media when she got her private pilot’s license at just 17 back in October 2023 — before she even had her driver’s license.
“I definitely do brag because people say, ‘Oh, you can’t drive,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I can fly,’” she told CBS12 in an interview at the time.
None of the other passengers on board the jet, which left Austin, Texas, on Sunday morning bound for the Bahamas, have been identified.
