Tim retweeted
‼️ “SHE WAS BORN TO FLY!” — FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR DEFENDS 20-YEAR-OLD CO-PILOT KILLED IN FLORIDA PLANE CRASH
A longtime flight instructor and mentor of 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who tragically lost her life in Sunday’s plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, has released an emotional statement describing her as the most naturally gifted pilot he had ever taught in his 40-year career.
Chris Kirk, who was one of Nathalia’s first flight instructors, spoke out following the devastating November 1, 2026, crash that killed all nine people aboard a Learjet 60.
His statement comes as Nathalia has faced criticism on social media, with some questioning whether someone so young had the experience necessary to serve as a co-pilot aboard a private jet.
However, according to Kirk, Nathalia’s abilities were nothing short of extraordinary.
“She was without a doubt the most naturally gifted pilot I have ever taught, and I have been teaching for 40 years!!” Kirk wrote.
“That young lady was born to fly! There was not a check ride that the examiner was not blown away!”
Kirk explained that Nathalia’s aviation skills were so advanced that even experienced examiners were astonished by her abilities.
“When she did her Lear type rating, she had less than 1100 hours and she absolutely aced the PIC type rating and the examiner thought she had about 5000 hours!”
A PIC (Pilot in Command) type rating demonstrates that a pilot has successfully completed specialized training and testing to operate a particular type of aircraft. According to Kirk, Nathalia performed so exceptionally well that her examiner believed she had accumulated thousands more flight hours than she actually had.
Kirk also recalled giving Nathalia opportunities to fly several different types of aircraft, including tailwheel airplanes and a Cessna Caravan.
He shared a humorous memory from her training, explaining that while teaching her the spins required for her Certified Flight Instructor endorsement, they performed so many spins that he actually began feeling nauseated.
But perhaps the most meaningful part of Kirk’s tribute was his description of Nathalia’s genuine love for aviation.
He expressed disappointment that some aspiring pilots appear more interested in the financial rewards of becoming airline pilots than in flying itself.
Nathalia, he explained, was completely different.
“Nathalia was PASSIONATE about flying!!! She was a 💯% natural born pilot!!!”
Kirk concluded his tribute with a heartbreaking message:
“I pray that she continues to fly amongst the clouds in heaven. May she rest in peace and God watch over her.”
#news #airplane #crash #florida #bahamas #Learjet60 #viral
Tim retweeted
Long post worth the read. I have a close friend who flies private jets. He flew Lear 60 for over 15 years and now flies a Gulfstream. This is a copy and paste of his response to me asking him if I thought Ice was the issue.
“We always fly in ridiculous cold temperatures.”
“Usually you get the bad ice when the temperatures are like 0 to negative 20. Believe it or not, there's a point where it gets too cold for ice. At negative 40, you pretty much can't get ice. Besides that, the airplane is equipped with hot wings and hot tail.”
“I flew the Lear 60 for like 15 years. It's a no joke airplane and probably the most dangerous airplane I've ever flown. It has a super critical wing. The airflow has to be perfect. When it gets into rough air and turbulence, it will easily stall. It has stalled on me at 41,000 feet just because we got into some turbulence. (On the way to Palm Beach as a matter of fact. ) we recovered and got her flying again around 30,000 ft. Scary
But here's the problem. This airplane has a terrible coffin corner. (At high altitudes) what that means is, you fly in a really narrow window where if you lose 20 knots, it stalls. And if you gain 20 knots, it goes into overspeed. The air goes supersonic over the wing and it goes into a high speed stall, or worse, a Mach tuck.
So if you stall, the normal recovery is to push the yoke forward to lower the nose and gain air speed again. At low altitude, you can push really hard and recover quickly. But in the 60... if you push hard, it will gain air speed and go into a high speed stall, it doesn't take much. It's very sensitive. The 60 has super short wings that don't make much lift. So then you high speed stall, and the computer is yelling at you... OVERSPEED! So then you pull back and enter a low speed stall. And you go back and forth trying to keep it in the air speed window.
This whole thing is pretty scary. And you should recover basically by using your finger tips using super small corrections. You can't over do it. If you try to muscle the recovery, she gets mad and will become unrecoverable. If she enters a mach tuck. You're done.”
“I taught the Lear 60 to other pilots and mentored them. I told them... this airplane has a soul and it's trying to kill you. Do not ever try to top the weather. Don't go over a thunderstorm. Go around it. If it means a half hour longer, then do it. Going over the thunderstorm will go into turbulence that you might not recover from.
These pilots went right over a thunderstorm. I think it stalled which caused them to drop down into the thunderstorm and ended up in mach tuck. They picked up so much speed that it ripped off the horizontal stabilizer. At that point... chuck Yeager can't fix it.
These same pilots did something similar a couple months ago. ATC got mad at them. They poked the bear one too many times.
This is not a beginner airplane. The Gulfstream would never do this. It has HUGE margins of error and won't stall like that. But then again... it's got HUGE wings. It's a pussy cat.
The Gulfstream is like driving a 4 wheeler. The Lear 60 is like riding a uni cycle.”
i went to school for renewable energy only to learn that it's renewable as long as we have the petroleum to keep it running
most software records what happened.
who paid who. what was approved. when it was submitted.
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incentives baked in. not bolted on.
the vision isn't just verifying carbon credits or supply chains.
it's turning trust itself into something that can be modelled, shared, and yes monetised.
because right now trust is just a feeling. DOVU wants it to be infrastructure.
dovu.ai
