Longtime friend of co-pilot who died Sunday in Florida plane crash tells air traffic control audio revealing his final moments “That was definitely, probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard.”
The co-pilot, Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, can be heard saying in audio recordings that the plane she was flying alongside the 55-year-old captain Jeffrey Gregory was going down quickly.
“722 Bravo Delta, we’re going down 8,000 Mayday, Mayday, we’re going down 10,000 feet per minute,” Filgueiras said.
The messages grew increasingly alarming before the Learjet 60, which was traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, eventually ended up crashed in Palm Beach County, killing all nine people on board.
“Declare an emergency 722 Bravo Delta, we are on overspeed descending at 20,000 feet per minute,” Filgueiras said.
Mikaela Schluth, who had known Filgueiras since middle school, said she was proud of the way her friend handled the situation, “and the way she was able to stay calm and provide information until the last minute.”
The passengers who died in the crash were identified as Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp, an Austin couple, and their two young children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2; Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina.
In a joint statement, their families wrote that “Adam and Helen were devoted parents” and that “Charmi and (Rachel) were full of joy and adventure.” And Anita Maria “showed us a legacy of unconditional love and dedication.”
Among the big questions now facing investigators are whether the pilots had a clear idea of the storm they were approaching and whether the plane’s horizontal stabilizer broke, rendering the plane virtually uncontrollable. Weather data shows the plane entered a rapidly intensifying storm cell shortly before pilots reported icing and significant turbulence.
“In my mind, the two scenarios are both atmospherically related,” said Robert Sumwalt, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and CBS News transportation safety expert. “One is icing, the other is thunderstorms and turbulence associated with the thunderstorm.”
Typically, the Learjet 60 would be equipped with weather radar, just like airliners. Pilots also generally try to avoid thunderstorms and the turbulence associated with them.
A priority for NTSB investigators is to recover the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, hoping its contents will help them better understand what happened before the crash.
“The biggest obstacle we’re going to face is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway,” Timothy Monville, the NTSB investigator in charge, said of the crash site.
Sumwalt said he is confident investigators will determine the cause of the accident and make recommendations to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
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