THE Dad of the young pilot killed in the Learjet crash has revealed how he was desperate “to be by her side” in her final moments.
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, was one of nine people killed when the doomed private jet plunged nearly 27,000ft and smashed into a residential street in Palm Beach County, erupting into a fireball.
Her dad Allan, a pilot who helped teach his daughter how to fly, held back tears as he hailed her as a hero, and called her his “soulmate”.
Horrifying ATC audio captured screaming that they were going to crash, while captain Jeffrey Gregory, 55, reportedly began praying.
Distraught dad Allan said he had listened over and over to Nathalia’s chilling last radio transmissions.
Holding back tears, he told reporters: “I wanted to be by her side. Inside the plane, to help.”
Allan marvelled at how “tough” his daughter was, even as the plane sped towards the ground at around 340 miles per hour on Sunday.
He said: “She showed me what it is to be a hero.
“Because once you see that coming, a lot of the big boys — military or whatever — they can’t handle it.
“And she was the one over there to the last minute fighting.”
Her loss was “like having the heart torn from my chest”, Allan said, adding: “I have to find a way to go on living.”
His family have faced questions over whether the young aviator was qualified enough to fly the jet.
It is thought Captain Jeffrey was at the controls when the plane plunged to the ground, with Nathalia handling radio communications.
Nathalia had more than 1,300 hours of flying experience, a commercial pilot’s license and a Learjet certification.
The family’s lawyer Stuart Grossman said he wanted to “preserve not just her memory, but her reputation”.
He said: “She was at the top of her class in everything that she did, and she was perfectly qualified to be the co-pilot on this flight, despite her tender years.”
A revealed that Nathalia initially reported “light, clear ice that is manageable” and moderate turbulence before requesting permission to climb from 35,000 feet to 37,000 feet.
But the situation rapidly deteriorated, with the co-pilot issuing a mayday call and reporting that the aircraft was descending at 20,000 feet per minute before screaming, “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
Her final reported words were, “Holy f**k we’re out of time,” before the radio transmission fell silent.
Filgueiras had also reportedly sent a to her boyfriend about ice and turbulence around ten minutes before the crash.
