A Learjet 60 plummeted from FL37.0 and crashed near vertical in a residential area in Florida. Stills from a dashcam appear to show the horizontal stabilizers missing. The pilot reported moderate turbulence and precipitation before immediately declaring an emergency.

I saw this on FB so I cannot vouch for the authenticity but it could explain what happened.

PSA, don’t listen to the ATC audio. It’s horrible to listen to.

Dashcam shows moment of Florida plane impact

At about 6 seconds and it was certainly hauling ass, but it appears to me that the horizontal stabilizer was missing

wow. that'll stay with you for a minute.

The co-pilot has been identified by her family as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who began flying lessons at just 14. By 17, she had earned her private pilot’s license while attending West Boca Raton High School. Per her family, she was so proud to earn her wings before getting her driver’s license. Her love of aviation started young, and she was determined to turn that passion into a career flying commercial airliners.

Rest in peace.

Some on enhanced the dash cam still.

I don't trust that picture immediately because I can see the left wing simply from the paused video.

Would she need an SIC type flying international to the Bahamas?

Video by Co-Pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras posted to her TikTok, 9/2/26, 1 month before her final flight in the jet that crashed near West Palm Beach, FL, 11/1/26.

Interesting how much focus is on her specifically (implication is she’s young and a woman, therefore causal). We’ll see what the NTSB comes up with, but my money is it has little to nothing to do with her (maybe a comment on CRM breakdown in the ADM process leading up to the event?)

Either way, sad all around. Don’t fly through T-storms guys (and here’s proof it can happen to anyone at all experience levels - the why will be the interesting part of the investigation).

2 hours ago, brabus said:

Interesting how much focus is on her specifically (implication is she’s young and a woman, therefore causal). We’ll see what the NTSB comes up with, but my money is it has little to nothing to do with her (maybe a comment on CRM breakdown in the ADM process leading up to the event?)

The normal social media outlets do seem to be going off on this aspect. More than one thread on Reddit began with a pinned admonishment from the mods about not disparaging the co-pilot, or in any way questioning her credentials.

Several concerning aspects though. Taken individually are not a big deal, but taken in their entirely they paint a concerning picture:

• Avidly posting videos of her flying on social media.

• Flight training funded through some sort of government program, which generally have an element of gender bias.

• Potential gender preference in her hiring

The social justice warriors have pushed DEI so hard for so long. I don't agree with it, but I don't make the rules. At the same time, you can't push those kinds of things so hard, for so long, and not expect people to ask these kinds of questions.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Blue

23 minutes ago, Blue said:

The normal social media outlets do seem to be going off on this aspect. More than one thread on Reddit began with a pinned admonishment from the mods about not disparaging the co-pilot, or in any way questioning her credentials.

Several concerning aspects though. Taken individually are not a big deal, but taken in their entirely they paint a concerning picture:

• Avidly posting videos of her flying on social media.

• Flight training funded through some sort of government program, which generally have an element of gender bias.

• Potential gender preference in her hiring

The social justice warriors have pushed DEI so hard for so long. I don't agree with it, but I don't make the rules. At the same time, you can't push those kinds of things so hard, for so long, and not expect people to ask these kinds of questions.

Now do one on the PIC, the guy in charge.

Apparently, she had a Lear type rating (Filgueiras is her actual last name so it took a minute to check the FAA website) which I don't see many 20 Y/Os able to fund themselves and there are a lot of more qualified pilots out their stuck as CFIs who would kill for a L-60 SIC job like this.

On top of this the real regulators of aviation are insurance companies which I'm more than a little surprised she could get insured under most circumstances.

Now to Brabus' point none of this at this point appears causal.

@Blue I agree DEI is an absolute disaster and should be fully eradicated. However in this case, her being a DEI hire (maybe) is not going to be causal. Could be if this was single pilot, but it wasn’t. The 55 yr old dude with an ATP was PIC and ultimately owns all decisions/actions.

This accident has a similar vibe to the Amazon crash - why have two experienced, ATP-rated pilots made egregiously “rookie” mistakes, at least apparently at initial glance. I don't think there’s any way in either of these accidents that it doesn’t come fully to the PIC (and contributing by the SIC). I’m generally in the camp of let the investigation play out, and I still am…but also some things are so obvious one can’t not acknowledge it.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by brabus

So far the only thing that I can see affected by her age would be how extraordinarily difficult it would be for a 20-year-old FO to tell a 55-year-old PIC that he's a moron for trying to climb over or through/close to a thunderstorm.

Hell, I'm 41, experienced, and largely unsocialized, and even still sometimes I have the internal debate over telling the dipshit in the left seat that 20 miles from any thunderstorm is the rule, not a suggestion. Some of these guys act like they are charged a fee for every degree to the left or right that they deviate. Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to just say nothing.

Edited 48 minutes ago48 min by Lord Ratner