A father who taught his daughter to fly at 12 has listened to her final Mayday call, and he’s questioning the route the Learjet crew took

Allan Filgueiras, the father of 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, is publicly questioning the decisions the Learjet 60 crew made before the crash that killed his daughter and eight other people. He said he can’t understand why the crew didn’t avoid the severe weather they encountered.

The Learjet was flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it crashed near Greenacres, Florida, on November 1. Filgueiras, an experienced pilot who started teaching Nathalia to fly when she was 12, spoke to Good Morning America about his daughter’s final moments and asked, “Why did they go where they went?”

Filgueiras described his daughter as a careful and responsible pilot who would never intentionally put herself in danger. He believes the crew had other options, including a slightly longer route that would have added only about 20 or 30 minutes to the trip. “So why they didn’t go around?” he asked. “What made them go through the routes that they went?”

The weather is still a big question for investigators

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as reported by CBS12, the Learjet was cruising at about 35,000 feet when the crew reported ice building up on the aircraft and moderate turbulence. Nathalia, who was handling communications with air traffic control, also reported altitude fluctuations of around 700 feet, and the crew requested permission to climb to 37,000 feet after flying into precipitation.

Air traffic controllers approved the request, but less than 30 seconds later, the pilots reported the aircraft was descending rapidly. “Mayday, mayday. We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” Nathalia said. She later reported, “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” as she and Captain Jeff Gregory, 55, tried to regain control.

The recordings captured the final moments before the Learjet crashed onto a Florida street. Nathalia was reportedly heard shouting, “We’re going to crash into the ground!” Her last words included, “Look outside! Holy *******. We’re out of time.” The impact caused a fireball, left a crater at the crash site, and scattered debris as far as 4 miles away.

Filgueiras said he has listened to his daughter’s final radio transmissions repeatedly. He described the experience as painful, but he said he is proud of how she responded to the emergency.

He also defended his daughter’s qualifications and said her age shouldn’t make anyone question whether she belonged in the cockpit. He said Nathalia had logged 1,300 hours of flying experience and had completed all the training required to operate the Learjet.

Filgueiras has hired attorneys Andrew Yaffa and Stuart Grossman, who plan to examine the aircraft and review its maintenance history. Bombardier, the aircraft’s manufacturer, has said it will cooperate with investigators but is not commenting on possible causes while the investigation continues.