Summerlin

CO-PILOT OF THE PALM BEACH LEARJET CRASH IDENTIFIED AS NATHALIA GADELHA, 20, WHO GOT HER PILOT'S LICENSE BEFORE HER DRIVER'S Greenacres, Florida (Palm Beach County) The co-pilot heard on the heartbreaking air traffic control audio before Sunday's Learjet crash in Palm Beach County has been identified as Nathalia Gadelha. She was just 20 years old. Her mom, Regina, and her stepdad confirmed to the New York Post that she was on the plane. Nathalia grew up right there in Palm Beach County. In October 2023, when she was 17 and a senior at West Boca Raton High School, she earned her private pilot's license before she even had her driver's license. She trained through the school district's Aviation Academy and at American Flyers, and had 88 flight hours at the time. "I definitely do brag because people say, 'Oh, you can't drive,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, but I can fly,'" she told CBS12 back then. By March of this year, she was posting about flying a Learjet 60. On Sunday, Nov. 1, she was the co-pilot on a Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. At 35,000 feet, the crew told controllers they had "light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence," and asked to climb. Then came the mayday calls. "We're descending 10,000 feet per minute," the crew said, and then, "We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute." Flight tracking shows it eventually hit more than 30,000 feet per minute. In the audio, a woman can be heard shouting, "Look outside, Jack! Look outside!" and then, "We're out of time." At 12:50 p.m., the jet nosedived into the ground near Military Trail in Greenacres, just feet from homes and inches from cars, and exploded in a giant fireball. All nine people on board were killed. Gov. Ron DeSantis said no one on the ground was hurt, but about 600 people from a nearby mobile home community have had to leave while investigators work the scene. The other eight victims, including the pilot believed to be named Jack, haven't been identified yet. The NTSB is investigating, and its preliminary report usually comes out in about a month. She was 20, and she'd already achieved what she dreamed about. Rest in peace, Nathalia.