‘I knew a plane would take her’: Mother of 20-year-old Florida Learjet crash pilot speaks out

The mother of Nathalia Filgueiras, the 20-year-old co-pilot who died in the Florida Learjet crash, has spoken out and claimed she always knew her daughter would die while flying. 

Filgueiras and 55-year-old Jeff Gregory were flying the private jet from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it dropped 27,000 feet in one minute and crashed, tragically killing all nine people on board.

The plane crashed into a busy six-lane road in a residential neighbourhood near Cresthaven at around 12.50pm local time on Sunday and the victims have been identified as Texas tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, two children, their nanny, two friends and the two pilots.

The 20-year-old got her pilot license in 2023 while she was still at school, before she had even learnt to drive, inspired by her father who owns a small Beechcraft Bonanza plane and taught her to fly for fun in 2018. However, her mother, Camila Corteleti, never wanted her to become a pilot. 

Credit: Nathalia Filgueiras/Threads

Most Read

What happened when filming was stopped during James Acaster’s Celebrity Traitors breakdown

It’s out! Who gets married and who doesn’t at Love Is Blind season 11 weddings has leaked

The 14 UK universities producing the most employable grads in 2027, according to hiring managers

She told The New York Post: “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. 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.”

Describing the moment her daughter told her she wanted to be a pilot, she said: “One day after flying with him [her father], she came home, and we were in our room, and she walked in, and she said, ‘I’m gonna be a pilot’ and I said, ‘No, you won’t’. Thiago [her stepfather] looked at me, and said, ‘If that’s what she wants to be, she will be a pilot,’ and I was like, ‘No she won’t’.”

In a statement to USA TODAY, the private jet company, Upper Jets, said: “Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this tragedy. We are committed to supporting the families of all those who lost a loved one yesterday, and are praying for them as we grieve together.”

For more, like The Tab on Facebook. Featured image credit: Nathalia Filgueiras/Threads