CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Five days after a Learjet crashed into Military Trail, killing all nine people on board, the father of a 20-year-old co-pilot is breaking his silence, sharing his grief publicly for the first time and vowing to preserve his daughter's legacy.
"She was gifted. She was gifted, and my soulmate," Allan Filgueiras said Friday, fighting back tears as he remembered his daughter, Nathalia Filgueiras.
Nathalia was one of nine people killed Sunday when the aircraft crashed into Military Trail near 10th Avenue North in Greenacres, leaving a crater in the roadway and scattering debris across nearby homes and businesses. A driver on the ground was also injured.
Five days later, wreckage remained at the scene as investigators continued working to determine what caused the crash.
For Nathalia's father, the search for answers is deeply personal. But he wants the world to remember his daughter not for how she died, but for how she lived.
'She was extraordinary'
Standing alongside his attorneys Friday, Filgueiras spoke publicly about his daughter's life, her love of aviation and the final moments he has replayed in his mind since the crash.
His attorney, Stuart Grossman of Grossman, Yaffa & Cohen, said the family has retained legal counsel but has not filed a lawsuit.
"It is customary among law firms that the moment they file a lawsuit, to call a press conference," Grossman said. "This is not today's topic. We're suing no one yet."
Instead, Grossman said the family wanted to express its condolences to the other eight families grieving loved ones and thank the National Transportation Safety Board for its ongoing investigation.
"We're not making allegations against anybody at this time," Grossman said. "We're going to do the right thing, and we're going to listen to what the government uncovers. Then we'll have our experts look at it and say they agree or not."
But Grossman said the family's decision to speak publicly also serves another purpose: protecting Nathalia's reputation.
"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."
Despite her young age, Grossman said Nathalia was highly trained and qualified to serve as co-pilot.
"She was at the top of her class in everything that she did, and she was perfectly qualified to be the co-pilot on this flight, despite her tender years," he said.
Grossman also addressed questions about how someone so young could be flying a jet.
"When you read that someone's 20 years old, and a co-pilot in a jet plane, you say, 'How can this be?'" Grossman said. "Well, wait until you see her hours, and what the government proves about her capabilities and what her instructors had to say."
He described her death as a loss not only to her family but to the aviation community.
"This is a loss to aviation," Grossman said.
A little girl with a dream
Long before Nathalia was flying jets, she was a 12-year-old girl discovering her passion for aviation alongside her father.
Allan, a pilot himself, introduced his daughter to flying before she was old enough to drive.
Grossman said that the early bond between father and daughter made the tragedy even more painful.
"My client Allan, who is her father, was the reason why she flew," Grossman said. "From the time she was 12 years old, she, who was a pilot, Allan would take her up, and she fell in love with flying."
As Nathalia grew older, that childhood passion became her career.
Her father recalled how she would marvel at being paid to do something she loved so much.
"She said, 'Dad, can you believe? Can you believe that I would pay for this, but they're actually paying me,'" Filgueiras recalled. "It was her happiest moment to fly."
Eventually, the roles between father and daughter reversed. Allan, who had once taught Nathalia to fly, found himself learning from her.
"When we were flying together, I used to instruct her, but then she became my instructor," he said.
A father searching for answers
Now, the same father who taught Nathalia to fly is struggling to understand how her life ended.
Filgueiras said he has listened repeatedly to air traffic control recordings from the aircraft's final moments, searching for answers.
"I did listen to that many times, trying to find a clue in my head how that happened," he said. "And wow, she's tough."
He said hearing his daughter's final moments left him proud of her determination.
"She made me so proud," Filgueiras said. "She showed me what it is to be a hero."
The NTSB has not yet determined the cause of the crash. Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the aircraft's final flight.
Grossman said the family's legal team intends to wait for the federal investigation before reaching its own conclusions.
"We'll let you know when the report comes out what our point of view is on it," he said.
The attorney also acknowledged the families on the ground whose homes and lives were disrupted by the crash, expressing sympathy for those displaced while investigators continue their work.
'I wanted to be by her side'
For now, Filgueiras is focused on remembering his daughter and finding a way forward for his wife and surviving children.
Speaking partly in Spanish, he described the loss as having his heart ripped from his chest.
He said he knows he must find a way to keep going for his family — and for Nathalia.
"Nathalia doesn't want to see a father falling apart," he said in Spanish. "So I gotta — I'm gonna find a way. I'm gonna find a way to make her proud."
He also recalled their spontaneous flights together, traveling to places like Key West and Naples just to grab a cup of coffee or something to eat.
Those simple moments are now memories he will carry for the rest of his life.
And while some families grieve privately, Filgueiras chose to share his heartbreak in front of cameras Friday — not to assign blame, but to honor the daughter he wishes he could have protected.
When Investigative Reporter Kate Hussey asked what he would say to Nathalia if he could speak to her again, the grieving father broke down.
"I wanted to be by her side. Inside the plane. To help. To be by her teammates," he said through tears. "I had to be next to her."
For a father who spent years sharing the skies with his daughter, it is the one flight he wishes he could have taken with her.
The NTSB's investigation into the crash remains ongoing. No cause has yet been determined.
