Family of four, two close friends and nanny also died in crash as pilot identified as 55-year-old Jeff Gregory

Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was co-pilot of the private Learjet 60 en route from Austin-Bergstrom international airport in Texas to North Eleuthera airport in the Bahamas on Sunday when it suddenly plummeted out of the sky, killing all onboard, her mother told the New York Times.

Later on Monday, the family of the passengers who died posted a statement on Facebook identifying the victims and paying tribute to them.

It named them as Adam Robinson, 45, a Texas-based technology entrepreneur; his wife Helen Sharp, 40; and their children, Emma, four, and Charlie, two. The statement said close family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr were also killed, along with Anita Maria Cetina, the children’s nanny.

The pilot in charge of the Learjet was identified by TMZ and other media outlets on Monday as Jeff Gregory, 55, an experienced aviator from Pennsylvania.

  • Taldan@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    You’re a bit confused on the stats

    The planes that have the most accidents are general aviation (GA) planes, not chartered private jets like this

    GA is the actual small planes. 2-4 seaters usually. It’s also the least experiences pilots, usually pilots building hours to be in the airlines or charters

    Charters follow a lot, but not all, of the same safety regulations as commercial airlines. They do still have more accidents, for a variety of reasons

    Charter companies play an important role in the pilot pipeline. Many commercial pilots work at charters while they build hours to get their ATP to be able to work at a commercial airline

    If they couldn’t work at a charter, they would have to instead fly in circles to build hours. A suboptmial outcome

    The consequences of it failing are just too high.

    Mile per mile, cars are more deadly. If the concern is safety, you’d have to start there

    • foenix@lemmy.radio
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      4 days ago

      Ugh. These businesses jets are considered General Aviation. Part 135 and Part 91 get lumped together in the stats. Part 121 is airliners and Freightliners.

      General Aviation is considered statistically slightly safer than motorcycles, but single engine and multiengine get lumped in together because of how different parts of US aviation is governed.

      Source: private pilot pursuing my commercial rating.

    • EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 days ago

      Cars are only deadly because any idiot and his dog can get a licence. If car drivers had to go through as much training and rigorous standards as pilots, cars would be safer, since they can’t fall out of the sky.

      • homura1650@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Cars also have much tighter tolerances than planes. A 1 second lapse on the highway could easily cause a multi-car collision.

        Planes have this during takeoff and landing. But once they are in the air, maintain a much larger distance between themselves and any hazard. When something goes wrong, pilots have a long time to fix it.

    • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      Mile per mile, cars are more deadly. If the concern is safety, you’d have to start there

      Because our skys don’t look like this

        • halcyoncmdr@piefed.social
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          4 days ago

          Meanwhile, the auto industry manages absolutely every issue as a simple cost of business. Does the cost to fix/replace/prevent an issue cost more than the lawsuit or fine? If yes, then it doesn’t get done until they’re forced to fix the issue.

      • Taldan@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        You should take a look at ADSB data above JFK or ATL if you think that’s the case. The density of planes is incredible. Planes are landing and departing as quickly as possible

        Further, heavy traffic is less fatal. Cars are moving slowly enough that most accidents are minor

        I would also point out, it isn’t close. Cars are something like 20 times more dangerous per mile than commercial aviation

        • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 days ago

          Yeah I meant more that in car traffic there’s every-fucking-one driving their 2 ton shitbox in an unpredictable way causing chaos. Think of some Corusant scenes in Star wars movies where you see thousands upon thousands of speeders flying on many levels in long lines, and one mistake will crash few speeders a kilometer down to the ground