NFL running back Joe Mixon says he flew on the same Learjet, piloted by the same two crew members, that crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard.
Mixon, 30, a two-time Pro Bowl back and former Cincinnati Bengal, posted a tribute on X Tuesday saying he was “absolutely devastated” by the crash.
“I flew on that exact aircraft last month with those same two pilots. They were incredible professionals and genuinely wonderful people.”
Mixon specifically mentioned 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, writing that learning about her life made the loss harder to bear.
“Hearing the young woman’s story and learning about the bright future she had ahead of her makes it even more heartbreaking that her life was cut so short.”
He closed the post urging people to appreciate those close to them.
“Love on your loved ones while you can, because you never know what tomorrow may bring.”
Filgueiras was co-piloting the Learjet 60 with 55-year-old pilot Jeff Gregory on a flight that departed Austin, Texas, bound for the Bahamas. Filgueiras grew up in Palm Beach County and earned her private pilot’s license at 17 in October 2023, before she had a driver’s license. She had been flying commercially for nine months and had logged 1,300 hours, her family told The Post.
Final Minutes
The pilots asked air traffic control to climb to roughly 37,000 feet to get above bad weather, reporting icing and turbulence before the jet entered a steep nosedive, dropping more than 20,000 feet per minute. It crashed into a mobile home park in Palm Beach County, taking down power lines and carving a large crater into the ground.
Air traffic control audio captured Filgueiras screaming moments before impact, while Gregory can be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the final seconds. Filgueiras had also texted her boyfriend, Justin, just 10 minutes before the crash, telling him the jet had hit turbulence and was dealing with icing.
Those killed in the crash included tech executive Adam Robinson, 44, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two young children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, according to Robinson’s brother. Family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, along with the family’s nanny, Anita Maria Apellido Cetina, also died.
Federal investigators have not determined what caused the jet’s sudden descent. Authorities said Monday the aircraft was flying through temperatures of minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit when it broke apart, scattering debris across a half-mile radius, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators have not said whether the plane had a cockpit voice recorder or whether such a device survived.
