The pilot of the doomed Learjet plane was heard praying before the aircraft smashed into the ground and erupted into a ball of flames in Florida. Jeff Gregory, 55, has been remembered in social media tributes as a “devoted father, husband and lifelong aviation enthusiast”. He is survived by his wife Cheryl and three children. Audio from the flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas captured Mr Gregory reciting the Lord’s Prayer as the private jet dived nearly vertically out of the sky.
The flight began experiencing problems at around 35,000ft before crashing into a road in a Palm Beach County residential neighbourhood, mere metres from hundreds of people’s homes. Mr Gregory worked for East Coast Jets, which said: “We are deeply saddened to learn that Captain Jeff Gregory was among those who lost their lives in yesterday’s tragic aviation accident in Palm Beach.”
He grew up attending Limerick Chapel in Pennsylvania, as his parents worked at the church, it has been reported. Limerick Chapel said Mr Gregory “went home to be with the Lord when the plane he was flying crashed”.
He’s always dreamed of being a pilot and began his training in the 1990s. His friend David Peters said Mr Gregory was a devoted family man, “very diligent and dependable”.
He told the US Sun: “I know he worked hard to become a pilot and it was something he truly loved and poured his life and heart into.” The other victims have been named as entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44; his wife, Helen Sharp, 40; their two children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two; their nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; two family friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; and the co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20.
The families of the passengers said in a joint statement: “We are deeply grateful to the first responders, investigators, and the Palm Beach County community for their care, and to everyone who has reached out with love. Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us. We ask for privacy as we grieve.”
While Mr Gregory was reciting the Lord’s Prayer, Ms Filgueiras could be heard telling Air Traffic Control that the plane was plummeting at 22,000ft per minute.
She shouted: “We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute… We’re going to crash into the ground.” She was then heard exclaiming, “We’re going to die. Holy f***, we’re out of time”, before the audio cuts out.
Ms Filgueiras earned her private pilot’s licence at just 17 years old, before she even had a driving licence. She began flying lessons in 2020 and also received guidance from her father, who took up flying as a hobby in 2018.
Flight data from ADS-B Exchange showed the plane plummeting 27,000ft in one minute before it crashed. It reportedly hit the ground at over 350mph.
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