A married couple and their two children were reportedly among nine people killed when a Learjet crashed in Florida.
Adam Robinson, 45, and his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, were traveling aboard the jet with their two toddlers when it went down near West Palm Beach on Sunday.
According to TMZ , the Texas family was traveling with their nanny and two friends. The outlet identified the captain as 55-year-old Jeff Gregory.
The Palm Beach Post reported on Monday that it had spoken with the father of one of the victims. He said: ‘It’s quite a blow. We had a daughter, her husband and two grandchildren on the plane.’
Robinson’s online profile says he spent 10 years working on Wall Street before launching an artificial intelligence startup called GetEmail. Sharp was a ceramicist.
Disturbing dashcam footage showed the Learjet 60 plunge nose-first into an intersection before erupting in flames.
Audio also captured the aircraft’s 20-year-old co-pilot, Nathalia Filgueiras, screaming during a final call to air traffic control. The pilot beside her could be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer as the jet fell toward the ground.
At a news conference on Monday, National Transportation Safety Board officials said severe weather appeared to have been a ‘significant factor’ in the disaster. They added that part of the jet seemed to have broken off before the crash.
Adam Robinson, seen here, and his wife Helen Sharp, 40, were identified by TMZ as being aboard the jet alongside their two toddlers
The Learjet 60 nose-dived into an intersection in disturbing dash cam footage before bursting into flames
A fireball erupted when the aircraft slammed into the ground
Officials said the pilots had requested an additional 2,000 feet of altitude after encountering a thunderstorm, moments before the aircraft spiraled toward the ground.
Filgueiras, who grew up in Palm Beach County, was passionate about aviation. She had previously appeared in a local media report after earning her pilot’s license in 2023 at age 17.
She told CBS12 that she had ‘bragged’ to her friends about the accomplishment after they teased her by saying, ”Oh, you can’t drive,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I can fly.”
Her mother, Camila, frequently shared photographs of Filgueiras and her siblings traveling on private jets. Her father, Allan, also held a pilot’s license.
Camila told The New York Times: ‘She loved the freedom. It was completely different seeing the world from the top.’
In air traffic control audio released after Sunday’s crash in West Palm Beach, Florida, an unidentified man could be heard praying: ‘who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.’
As the man prayed, Filgueiras reported that the Learjet 60 had banked 60 degrees, meaning it was flying on its side.
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Investigators are examining stormy weather and ice accumulation on the aircraft as possible factors in the crash. The $2 million business jet had been flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.
Filgueiras was passionate about aviation and had previously appeared in a local media report after earning her pilot’s license in 2023 at age 17
The impact left a massive crater in the middle of the road, damaging nearby infrastructure
NTSB member Tom Chapman said during a news conference Monday that the aircraft appeared to start breaking up before it made impact and that he expects parts of the plane will be found far away.
‘We do have some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact,’ Chapman said. ‘We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site.’
The Bahamas-bound jet began its journey at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. Airport spokesperson Jim Reynolds described it as a private aircraft.
The plane was heading east at 35,000 feet when the pilot onboard started to report problems.
The air traffic controllers in nearby Miami had given pilots permission to ‘deviate left and right’ due to ‘moderate precipitation… to the southeast’ that they described as ‘pretty nasty’ as the twin-engine business jet approached the area.
The controllers were then heard describing ‘moderate turbulence’ before Filgueiras’s tone swiftly became panicked as she realized the plane was in trouble.
The crater and debris field are seen here at the scene of the impact on Monday
She said: ‘Seven two two bravo delta, we’re descending 8,000… mayday mayday… we’re descending 10,000ft per minute.’
Seconds later, she screamed: ‘Declaring emergency, declaring emergency, we are in an overspeed condition.’
Her voice grew even more panicked as she said: ‘Descending 20,000ft per minute… we’re going to crash into the ground.’
‘I’m here with you, talk to me,’ the air traffic controller said in an attempt to calm the situation.
Filgueiras said: ‘We are descending 22,000ft, and we are banking 60 degrees.’ ‘We’re out of time,’ Filgueiras then screamed in her final transmission.
The Daily Mail has chosen not to publish the final seconds of audio which are extremely distressing.
Weather conditions in the West Palm Beach area on Sunday afternoon were poor, overcast with rain and lightning in the area and winds from the east at 15 mph, gusting to near 25mph. The National Weather Service in Miami said visibility was seven miles.