20-year-old pilot in Florida jet crash
The gist
A Learjet 60 crashed in Greenacres, Florida, killing all nine on board; 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha was the co-pilot.
Her family says she had over 1,300 flight hours and dreamed of flying commercially.
How it unfolded
- Oct 2023Gadelha earned her private pilot's license at 17, before getting her driver's license, while attending West Boca Raton High School; she had logged 88 flight hours.
- Nov 1, 2026A Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas entered a steep nosedive, plummeting at over 20,000 feet per minute, and crashed on South Military Trail in Greenacres, Palm Beach County. All nine people on board were killed and about 600 residents were forced to evacuate.
- Nov 2, 2026Gadelha's mother and stepfather identified her as the 20-year-old co-pilot of the Learjet 60.