Florida was rocked by a devastating tragedy on Sunday afternoon, November 1, after a Learjet 60 plunged nose-first into the ground, claiming at least nine lives.
Residents described the impact as resembling a “meteor” strike, with flames from the wreckage illuminating the surrounding neighborhood.
In the hours that followed, a distress call from the aircraft’s cockpit was also released, capturing a female voice repeatedly shouting, “Mayday, mayday!”
Now, a day after the incident, the woman behind the voice has been identified as Nathalia Gadelha, a 20-year-old who previously made headlines for earning her pilot’s license while still in high school.
The doomed Learjet co-pilot once joked that she was not licensed to drive but was licensed to fly a plane
Gadelha grew up in Palm Beach County, the same area where the aircraft crashed on Sunday.
Her mother, Camila, and stepfather confirmed to The New York Post that she was the co-pilot aboard the Learjet, which was flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.
The young aviator was featured in local media after obtaining her pilot’s license at just 17 in October 2023, before becoming eligible for a driver’s license.
“I definitely do brag, because people say, ‘Oh, you can’t drive,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I can fly,’” she told CBS 12 in an interview at the time.
The West Boca Raton High School senior explained that she had begun taking flying lessons in 2022 and was also taught by her father, who took up flying as a hobby in 2018.
Gadelha revealed that she had flown every day since beginning ground school, accumulating 88 hours of flight time and passing the required knowledge test.
The School District of Palm Beach County’s Aviation Academy had covered the cost of her training after introducing her to the program that year.
“I like being different than everyone, so to me, I think it’s cool,” Gadelha said about being a pilot, adding that her dream was to become a commercial airline pilot one day.
While social media appeared impressed by Gadelha’s early achievements, users also questioned her limited experience
An X user described Learjets as “not impossible to fly” before adding that “their fighter jet derived design heritage makes them highly responsive, high performance aircraft.”
This, they argued, meant the aircraft “demands precision, judgment and quick reactions.”
The suggestion that Gadelha may have struggled to handle the pressure, therefore, was “heartbreaking” but not “surprising,” given that she was only 20, the user added.
“She may have been a very skilled pilot; however, at only 20 with no prior military training, there’s no way she would’ve had the experience to handle a dire emergency situation,” another person echoed.
“I’d turn around and march in the opposite direction if I saw a 20-year-old was the co-pilot of a long-distance trip I’d booked, even if she was just a co-pilot,” a separate user remarked.
Gadelha made desperate mayday calls before plunging into a Florida mobile home park
A voice recording from the Learjet 60’s cockpit captured the terrifying moments leading up to the disaster.
Things initially appeared to be under control, with the pilot reporting moderate turbulence and “light, clear ice that is manageable” to the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.
The situation escalated within minutes, though, as the pilot could be heard shouting, “We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.”
The aircraft reportedly plunged approximately 27,000 feet in the span of a minute before flight-tracking data cut off.
“We’re in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot informed air traffic control.
“We’re going to crash into the ground.”
With the disaster seemingly seconds away, screams from crew members could also be heard, with one delivering the haunting final message: “Holy f*ck, we’re out of time.”
Hundreds of residents have been displaced, while road repairs could take at least 30 days
Wreckage from the Learjet blocked the entrance to a mobile home park, leaving approximately 600 residents in need of evacuation.
Joel Flores, Palm Beach County Commissioner for District 3, said the displaced residents were being sent to two separate shelters in the county.
Authorities also said it would take at least a month to repair the damage to local infrastructure, including power and water lines, before the affected road could reopen.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
“Of all the places it could have happened the plane went down near her hometown,” a netizen noted
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