OMM Newsroom
Nine people were killed when a small jet crashed and exploded in Florida on Sunday, the BBC reported.
The Learjet 60 was travelling from Austin to the Bahamas when it plunged onto a multi-lane highway. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether ice, turbulence or human error contributed to the crash.
Adam Robinson and Helen Sharp’s family
Texas technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, died in the crash, according to a joint statement from some of the victims’ families.
The family described Robinson and Sharp as “devoted parents” and said their children were “the light of their lives”. The statement said: “Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever. Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives.”
On his “LinkedIn” page, Robinson described himself as founder and chief executive of “RB2B” and “Retention.com”, and chief executive of “Moltsets”. He had previously worked at financial services company “Lehman Brothers” and banking group “Barclays”. The BBC said it had contacted the companies for comment.
Technology entrepreneur Jesse Ouellette wrote on “LinkedIn” that Robinson had helped him while he was building his company. “He became a friend and someone I saw eye to eye with on how to build software companies,” Ouellette wrote. “He could disagree with you about almost anything, and somehow you’d walk away liking him even more.”
Robinson’s last post on the networking site was published on Sunday and concerned a debate he and Ouellette had arranged for the following week. Sharp was an artist, according to media reports.
Sharp’s father, Dudley Sharp, told Florida news outlet “The Palm Beach Post” that learning his family had been on the plane was “quite a blow”. “We had a daughter, her husband and two grandchildren on the plane,” he said.
Other passengers and the flight crew
Rachel Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina were also aboard the jet with the Robinson-Sharp family. Reed and Fehr were described in the joint family statement as “full of joy and adventure”.
“They loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation. From the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building,” the statement said. It was not immediately clear what their relationship was with Robinson and Sharp.
Cetina “cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion, and she was truly part of the family”, the statement said. “She showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion.”
Jeff Gregory, 55, was identified as the pilot by a source with direct knowledge of the matter and a flight manifest obtained by “CBS”, the BBC’s US partner.
A spokesperson for private charter company “East Coast Jets”, where Gregory reportedly previously worked, told “NBC Miami” in a statement on Monday: “We are deeply saddened to learn that Captain Jeff Gregory was among those who lost their lives in yesterday’s tragic aviation accident in Palm Beach.” The BBC said it had contacted the company.
US media identified Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, as the plane’s copilot. She earned her pilot’s licence at 17. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, confirmed to US media that her daughter died in the fireball.
Corteleti told “The New York Times”: “She loved the freedom. It was completely different seeing the world from the top.”
In a 2023 interview with a local “CBS News” affiliate, Filgueiras said she was proud to have earned her pilot’s licence while still a high school senior. “I like being different than everyone,” she said. “Some people think that it’s weird that I can fly planes, but I can’t drive a car, I mean I can but, a lot of people think it’s funny.”
