'Mayday' Florida plane crash that killed nine now target of NTSB probe
Nine people died when a Learjet crashed near Greenacres on Sunday. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a probe to learn why.
A married couple with two toddlers and a 20-year-old co-pilot from suburban Boca Raton were among the nine people killed when a Learjet 60 plane crashed near Greenacres on Nov. 1, their families confirmed.
The small plane, bound for the Bahamas from Austin, Texas, rapidly lost altitude as it flew in stormy weather in South Florida and struck Military Trail at Cresthaven Boulevard at about 12:50 p.m., turning into a fireball when it struck the pavement.
The National Transportation Safety Board is in Palm Beach County investigating the crash. The crew's report of ice and sub-zero temperatures in the atmosphere will be "a major focus" of its inquiry, officials said at a Nov. 2 news conference near West Palm Beach.
“We do have some evidence that there was some breaking up of the airplane before impact,” said NTSB board member Tom Chapman.
Another focus will be finding the plane's "black box" in-flight recorder, which could contain information that can shed light onto the crash's cause. The plane was operated by Aurora Airlines, doing business as Upper Jets, the NTSB said.
Florida plane crash left Palm Beach County families reeling, displaced close to 600 people near site
The families of the plane's passengers late on Nov. 2 issued a joint statement identifying them as Adam Robinson, 45, his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, and their children, Emma, 2, and Charlie, 4; the children's nanny Anita Maria Cetina; and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
"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," the families wrote in a post to Facebook. "Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us."
The co-pilot was Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who attended the Academy of Aviation and Aerospace at West Boca Raton High School. Family members said she had longed to be a pilot since she was a child.
The crash left what Gov. Ron DeSantis described as a "crater" in Military Trail's southbound lanes and spread debris across a wide area. Only one injury was reported from the debris, when it hit a man in the leg, causing minor injuries.
The crash temporarily displaced close to 600 people living in the area, said County Commissioner Joel Flores, who represents the area. They could not stay in their homes while the NTSB does its investigation and are living at county shelters. There also are concerns about disrupted water and sewer service in the area following the crash.
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, appearing with DeSantis at a Nov. 1 news conference near the crash site, said the county would submit to the governor an emergency declaration to help deal with the aftermath and those displaced from their homes.
Social-media accounts for both the husband and wife who died suggest the two were entrepreneurs. One was a potter and the owner of a public relations company. The other was a software founder who posted to his LinkedIn shortly before the crash.
Filgueiras wanted to be a pilot "since she was 12," her sister, Giulia Filgueras, said outside her family's home on Nov. 2 She earned her pilot license as a teenager and told reporters in 2023 that she dreamed of becoming a commercial pilot.
"She always followed her dreams," her sister said. "She showed any girl could do what it takes."
The plane flew directly into a thunderstorm over South Florida that rocketed clouds skyward by 15,000 feet in 20 minutes.
Experts who reviewed flight path data, radar images and Filgueiras' final words to air-traffic control said the plane, in its last moments, may have been trying to fly above the storm, whose intense upward rush of moist, warm air may have led to the rapid freezing of water droplets that otherwise don’t ice up at higher altitudes.
An air traffic controller gave permission to climb to 37,000 feet.
Moments later: "Mayday, mayday," the co-pilot said. "We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute."
Dramatic dash-camera footage captured the moment the plane plummeted into the ground at Military Trail and Cresthaven Boulevard near Greenacres and exploded into a fireball. The impact sent debris flying, crushing cars, cutting power and damaging a water main.
Palm Beach County residents near crash site heard 'supersonic boom' as plane hit ground
Armando Perez, a nighttime truck driver who lives nearby, was lying in bed when what he described as a supersonic boom jolted him up straight.
"I thought, 'Is this freaking Iran?' " Perez said. The force shook his body like a gigantic subwoofer, he said.
"That's when the screaming and crying" from his alarmed neighbors started, he said.
When Perez walked outside to investigate, he remembered feeling confused because it was raining just a few minutes ago, but now it was sunny. He later deduced that the jet parted the clouds as it nosedived onto Military Trail, he said. The gray clouds rolled back in and poured rain on the smoldering debris, he said.
Perez got within a few dozen feet of the plane, he said. The smell and heat were "oppressive," Perez said. The smell of jet fuel and other chemicals wafted into his neighborhood.
None of Perez's neighbors were hurt, as far as he could tell. But plane crash debris strewn about the area damaged homes and automobiles, he said.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected].
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected].
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at [email protected].