00:02The co-pilot of a doomed Learjet airplane, which was captured in horrifying dash cam video
00:08plummeting to the ground and exploding into a fireball in Palm Beach County, Florida on Sunday
00:13has been identified. The post confirmed that Natalia Filgaras, a 20-year-old who got her
00:18pilot's license while still in high school, was co-piloting the doomed plane after it started
00:22descending at around 20,000 feet per minute and nosedived straight into the ground near a South
00:27Florida Mobile Home Park. Apocalyptic video showed the massive, fiery crater left from the private
00:32jet crash, which killed all nine people on board. The young aviator could be heard on harrowing
00:37air traffic control audio pleading for help as the Bahamas-bound plane hurled to the ground.
00:42722 Bravo Delta, we're descending 8,000. Mayday, mayday, we're descending 10,000 feet per minute.
00:48November 722 Bravo Delta, roger.
00:51Declared emergency, 722 Bravo Delta. We are in an overseas condition, descending 20,000 feet
00:57per minute. November 722 Bravo Delta, roger. I'll choose your discretion. Let me know what you
01:02need. After radioing a chilling Mayday message, Filgaras' communications to the Miami Air Route
01:08Traffic Control Center took a turn for the worse in an instant. A male voice could even be heard
01:13reciting the Lord's prayer as the plane careened into the ground. We're going to crash into the
01:17ground, 722 Bravo Delta. November 2 Bravo Delta, I'm here with you. Talk to me.
01:23We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees.
01:34November 2 Bravo Delta, roger.
01:38F***! F***! Look out time, Jeff! Look out time!
01:42Holy f***! We're out of 10—
01:45November 2 Bravo Delta.
01:48November 2 Bravo Delta, how do you hear?
01:50Filgaras, who grew up in Palm Beach County, was an avid aviation junkie and posted her
01:55Learjet expeditions on TikTok. On her account, Learjet Girl, Filgaras posted herself posing
02:00in front of high-flying jets, taking off from a Nantucket runway and landing in the Bahamas
02:05in 2025. And it appeared that Filgaras' passion for flying had kicked off early. She was interviewed
02:11back in 2023 as a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton High School by local CBS 12 when
02:17she
02:17had earned her private pilot's license before even getting her driver's license.
02:21Some people think that it's, like, weird because I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car.
02:27I mean, I can, but a lot of people think it's funny. I think it's funny, and I now want
02:34my license
02:34really bad.
02:35Her mother also shared posts on social media of the family flying in private jets together,
02:39like trips to the Bahamas and flights over Miami Beach.
02:42In the CBS 12 article, Filgaras explained that she had flown every day since ground school,
02:48building 88 hours of flight time and passing the knowledge test.
02:51The school district of Palm Beach County's Aviation Academy paid for her pilot's license
02:56after introducing the program that year in 2023. The then-high school senior explained that she
03:01began pilot lessons in 2020, but was also taught by her dad, who learned flying for fun in 2018.
03:06I like being different than everyone. So, um, to me, I think it's, like, cool that, um, well,
03:13like, it's not really an opportunity. I kind of just didn't do it, and this is how it ended up,
03:18but, um, I think it's kind of cool.
03:21Filgaras graduated from American Flyers, an Addison, Texas-based flying school with a branch
03:25in Pompano Beach, Florida, and said her dream was to become a commercial airline pilot.
03:30In a recent social media post, she shared video of herself and her boyfriend, Justin,
03:34flying together. She wrote in the overlay text,
03:37How often do you see two pilots under 21 with a commercial multi-engine instrument certified
03:42flight instructor slash certified flight instructor instrument? Authorities have yet to identify who
03:48was on the plane, only confirming that at least nine people were killed when the $2 million private
03:52jet careened into the ground. The crash was described as a, quote, mass casualty incident
03:57by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
