A 20-year-old Boca Raton high school graduate who earned her pilot’s license before her driver’s license has been identified as one of nine people killed in Sunday’s fiery plane crash in Palm Beach County.
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, a graduate of West Boca Raton High School, was serving as co-pilot aboard a Learjet 60 traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when the aircraft crashed along South Military Trail in Greenacres around 12:50 p.m. on November 1.
Her mother, Camila Corteleti, and stepfather confirmed her identity Monday to the New York Post.
Filgueiras first made local headlines in 2023 when CBS12 News featured the then-17-year-old high school senior after she earned her private pilot’s license before getting her driver’s license.
At the time, she had logged 88 flight hours and dreamed of becoming a commercial airline pilot or flying private jets.
Just three years later, that dream had become a reality.
Filgueiras had accumulated more than 1,300 flight hours and was working for a Fort Lauderdale-based private charter company. Her mother said she had been flying commercially for nine months and would have celebrated her 21st birthday in January.
The Learjet reportedly encountered icing and turbulence before plunging toward the ground at more than 20,000 feet per minute. Harrowing air traffic control recordings captured a plea for help before the aircraft crashed and erupted into flames.
All nine people aboard were killed. No injuries or deaths on the ground were immediately reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. Its cause has not yet been determined.
For a young woman who discovered her passion for aviation while attending high school in Boca Raton, a promising career ended far too soon.
Our deepest condolences go out to Nathalia’s family and the loved ones of all nine victims.
