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Learjet co-pilot in fatal Florida crash identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha

By Linda Ikeji 2 November 2026, 5:03 pm 0 comments

The co-pilot of the doomed Learjet heard pleading for help in haunting air traffic control audio before the aircraft crashed in Florida has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha, who obtained her pilot’s licence while still in high school.

Gadelha’s mother, Camila, and her stepfather confirmed to The Post that she was the co-pilot flying a Learjet 60 from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas when it entered a steep nosedive, plummeting at over 20,000 feet per minute and smashing into the ground in Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon, November 1. Read previous report here.

The young aviator, who grew up in Palm Beach County, got her private pilot’s license at just 17 back in October 2023 before she even had her 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 CBS12 in an interview at the time.

The West Boca Raton High School senior explained that she began pilot lessons in 2020, but was also taught by her dad, who learned flying for fun in 2018.

Gadelha said her dream was to become a commercial airline pilot one day.

She graduated from American Flyers, an Addison, Texas-based flying school with a branch in Pompano Beach, Florida.

In a recent social media post, Gadelha shared a video of herself and her boyfriend, Justin, flying together.

“How often do you see 2 pilots under 21 with a commercial, multi-engine, instrument, CFI/CFI-I [Certified Flight Instructor/Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument],” she wrote in the overlay text.