A pilot’s mayday call has been released after nine people were killed in a private jet crash in Florida.
A Learjet 60 business jet nose-dived and crashed into the ground six miles from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida residence, on Sunday.
The aircraft was bound for the Bahamas and had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas.
The pilot is understood to be 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who earned her pilot’s licence when she was just 17.
Radio transmissions captured the pilot’s final moments as she described falling to the ground after describing “moderate turbulence”.
She can be heard saying: “We’re descending 8,000 mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000ft per minute.” Seconds later the pilot shouts: “Declaring emergency seven two two bravo delta we are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000ft per minute.” “We’re gonna crash into the ground,” she shouts, then adds: “We are descending 22,000ft and we are banking 60 degrees.” The controller can be heard saying, “I’m here with you, talk to me”, before the pilot shouts: “Holy f---, we’re out of time.” Camila Corteletti, named in The New York Times as Ms Filgueiras’s mother, posted a tribute on her social media.
“I grieve for a family that also became my own.
May Jesus receive you, sweet Tatinha,” she wrote in Portuguese.
“Tatinha” is a term of endearment used in Brazil and Portugal.
Ms Corteletti told The New York Times that after earning her pilot’s licence at 17 years old, Ms Filgueiras had logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time.....
