Allan Filgueiras has listened to the distressing air traffic control call that recorded his daughter’s last words over and over again, searching for a clue as to what led the Learjet 60 jet she was co-piloting to crash in Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people on board.Instead, what he heard was how his daughter, 20-year-old Nathalia Filgueiras, valiantly fought until the very last minute to keep control of the aircraft, the father said.“She made me so proud,” Allan Filgueiras, who is also a pilot, said.“She showed me what it is to be a hero.”The father spoke for the first time since the tragic event at a news conference Friday alongside Stuart Grossman, an attorney representing the family.They focused on expressing their condolences to those close to the eight other people killed in the crash, emphasizing the importance of an investigation into what happened, and remembering Filgueiras’ daughter.“The purpose of this is to preserve not just her memory but her reputation,” Grossman said.
“Nathalia was beyond an average pilot; she was extraordinary.”Inspired by her father, Nathalia Filgueiras was determined to learn how to fly planes.Allan Filgueiras was the one who began teaching his daughter first before she went on to earn her pilot’s license while still in high school.Allan Filgueiras speaks in front of a photo of his daughter, Nathalia Filgueiras.
APTN“When we were flying together, I used to instruct her.And then, she became my instructor,” Allan Filgueiras said of his daughter.
“She was gifted, and my soulmate.” Grossman said she fell in love with flying because her father would take her up starting at the age of 12.“That compounds our tragedy, knowing this is where it all began,” the attorney said.Born into a Brazilian household in Boca Raton, Florida, Allan Filgueiras reminisced about teaching his daughter to speak Portuguese at home.
When she was a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School, Nathalia ...