An undated photo shows Captain Jeff Gregory smiling in his pilot’s uniform. East Coast Jets provided the image and said Gregory was not flying one of its jets when the crash occurred.
Gregory, 55, was at the controls of a Learjet 60 traveling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas on Sunday. The aircraft encountered ice and moderate turbulence before it nosedived and crashed in Florida, killing Gregory, co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha and all seven passengers.
Gadelha was 20 and had earned her pilot’s license at 17 while attending a Florida high school. Minutes before the crash, she texted her boyfriend: “I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice.” In dispatch audio, she is heard saying, “Holy f***, we’re out of time,” while a man, believed to be Gregory, recites the Lord’s Prayer.
The passengers were Adam Robinson; his wife, Helen Sharp; their children, Emma and Charlie; their friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr; and their nanny, Anita Maria Cetina. The group was traveling to the Bahamas to celebrate Robinson’s birthday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Sources: TMZ.