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Jeff Gregory, 55-year-old Learjet 60 captain, recited the Lord's Prayer before death in Florida plane crash
Pilot Jeff Gregory, 55, and co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha, 20, died in a Florida Learjet crash that killed six others; Gregory reportedly recited the Lord’s Prayer.
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The pilot who was at the helm of the Learjet 60 as it crashed in Florida on Sunday was identified as 55-year-old Jeff Gregory by TMZ.
Gregory was leading operations inside the cockpit along with co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha, 20, when the plane crashed amid massive turbulence. It resulted in the death of Texas-based tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife and their children, their nanny and two friends. Jeff Gregory and Nathalia Gadelha were also among the nine dead.
Deep Dive
The US Sun reports that the audio on the air traffic control radio after the plane declared an emergency documented Jeff Gregory reciting the Lord's Prayer as the plane lost control and plummeted. The Learjet 60 smashed into the ground around 12:50pm EDT on Sunday.
The plane was carrying nine people, including the crew, from Austin, Texas, to West Palm Beach, Florida. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had confirmed hours after the crash that all nine people on board were killed in the crash.
What the ATC audio reveals about the Florida plane crash
The ATC audio reveals that the pilots were discussing facing turbulence, starting from when they were above Freeport in the Bahamas. Nathalia Gadelha had even texted her boyfriend about the turbulence minutes before the deadly crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said at a press conference on Monday afternoon that the plane had requested to ascend to 37,000 feet from 35,000 before suddenly starting the descend.
Watch: Car Dashcam Captures Florida Plane Crash: Learjet Explodes In Palm Beach
“722 Bravo Delta… we’re descending 8,000—Mayday, Mayday! We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute!" the pilot could be head saying in the ATC audio. The cockpit then reported that the aircraft was descending at 20,000 feet per minute and over speeding, indicating that the pilots had very little control of the aircraft.
The final message from the cockpit was "We're going to crash into the ground, 722 Bravo Delta." After that, frantic cries filled the cockpit as Captain Jeff Gregory recited the Lord's Prayer.
Speaking to the media after the crash, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said that the Learjet 60 came down “a missile going down.”
“Obviously, this was a cataclysmic plane crash,” DeSantis said. “It looked like a missile going down. It left a big crater on the side of the road.” "I think people will recognize this as a major tragedy."
The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.
