Texas Entrepreneur, Wife, and Two Young Children Among Nine Killed in Florida Learjet Crash
A private Learjet 60 plummeted from 35,000 feet and slammed into a Palm Beach County roadway on Sunday afternoon, killing everyone aboard. The plane, a 2004 Bombardier model registered N722BD, had left Austin, Texas, bound for the Bahamas. All nine people on board died. One person on the ground suffered a minor leg injury. About 600 nearby residents were evacuated after the impact left a crater and scattered debris across a residential stretch of Military Trail.
The passengers included Austin tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 44, founder and CEO of the bootstrapped companies Retention.com and RB2B. He was traveling with his wife Helen, their two young children, the children’s nanny, and two family friends. Robinson had built his software businesses without outside venture funding, focusing on tools that help companies identify anonymous website visitors. Helen ran a communications firm and a ceramics studio. Relatives described the loss as a devastating blow to the family.
The crew consisted of captain Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20. Filgueiras, a Brazilian-American from the Palm Beach area, earned her pilot’s license at 17 while still in high school, before she even had a driver’s license. She had logged roughly 1,300 flight hours and was working as a commercial pilot. Minutes before the crash she texted her boyfriend about ice and turbulence. In the final radio calls she reported an overspeed condition, a descent exceeding 20,000 feet per minute, and then said, “We’re out of time.”
The aircraft was cruising at flight level 350 when the crew noted manageable light clear icing and moderate turbulence. They requested a climb to 37,000 feet. Almost immediately afterward the plane entered a steep, accelerating dive. Dashcam video captured the jet falling nearly vertically before it hit the ground in a fireball. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have said there is preliminary evidence of some in-flight breakup and that weather conditions at altitude are a major focus. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the nine fatalities. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the crash cataclysmic and said the plane looked like a missile coming down.
This is the deadliest accident involving a Learjet 60. The NTSB investigation continues, with recovery of evidence complicated by the crater and weather. Families have begun identifying the victims through media and personal statements while official confirmation is still pending.