Allan Filgueiras listened again and again to the harrowing call from air traffic control that recorded his daughter’s last words, searching for a clue to what led the Learjet 60 jet she was co-piloting to crash in Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people on board.
Instead, what he heard was how his daughter, Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, fought valiantly until the very last minute to maintain control of the plane, the father said.
“She made me so proud,” said Allan Filgueiras, who is also a pilot. “She showed me what it means to be a hero.”
The father spoke for the first time since the tragic event at a press conference Friday alongside Stuart Grossman, a lawyer representing the family.
They focused on expressing condolences to the relatives of the eight other people killed in the crash, stressing the importance of an investigation into what happened and remembering Filgueiras’ daughter.
“The goal is to preserve not only his memory but also his reputation,” Grossman said. “Nathalia was beyond an average pilot; she was extraordinary. »
Inspired by her father, Nathalia Filgueiras was determined to learn to fly planes. Allan Filgueiras was the one who started teaching his daughter before she got her pilot’s license while she was still in high school.
“When we were flying together, I was instructing her. And then she became my instructor,” Allan Filgueiras said of his daughter. “She was talented and my soul mate.”
Grossman said she fell in love with aviation because her father took her when she was 12 years old. “It compounds our tragedy, knowing that this is where it all started,” the lawyer said.
Born to a Brazilian family in Boca Raton, Florida, Allan Filgueiras remembers teaching his daughter to speak Portuguese at home. When she was 17 at West Boca Raton Community High School, Nathalia Filgueiras earned her private pilot’s license through a Palm Beach County School District program, which allowed her to attend her school’s aviation academy.
“She said, ‘Dad, can you believe I would pay for this, but they’re actually paying me?’ said Allan Filgueiras, remembering how his daughter felt when she started the program. “It was his happiest moment.”
Grossman said he understands how many people might be surprised to learn that someone as young as 20 could be a co-pilot on a private jet. “But wait until you see his schedule and what the government proves about his capabilities,” the lawyer said. “She was truly special. It’s a loss to aviation.”
One of Nathalia Filgueiras’ flight instructors, Chris Kirk, told TODAY.com on Thursday that although the young pilot had remarkably good innate skills at flying planes, she was known to come off as “overprepared” to complete her practical tests – which are required to receive specific pilot certificates.
“She was at the top of her class in everything she did and she was perfectly qualified to be co-pilot on this flight despite her young age,” Grossman said.
According to Grossman, the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the causes of the accident, sent 20 investigators to South Florida to investigate the causes of the tragedy.
The pilot killed in the crash was identified as Capt. Jeff Gregory and had previously worked for East Coast Jets, the private jet charter company’s director, April Honnen, said on Facebook. The killed passengers were identified by relatives as Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp and their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. The other passengers were Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina, the families said on Facebook.
NTSB investigators said Thursday they had recovered parts from one of the engines of the Learjet 60 jet and were still excavating the crater left on the ground at the crash site in Greenacres.
“We’re not making allegations against anyone at this time. We’re going to do the right thing. We’re going to listen to what the government finds out. Then our experts will look at it and say whether they agree or disagree,” Grossman said.
When Allan Filgueiras thinks back to Sunday’s air traffic control call, when his daughter warned him that the plane was “going down at 10,000 feet per minute” and was about to crash, he wished he could be “by her side inside the plane to help her, to be by her side.”
“I feel like someone is ripping my heart out of my chest,” the father said. “I have to find a way to live and get by.”
“Nathalia doesn’t want to see a father collapse,” he added. “I’ll find a way to make her proud.”
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