Florida Jet Crash Proves Misogyny is Still Alive and Well
By Emma Crossan
On Sunday afternoon, a private jet flying from Austin to the Bahamas plummeted to the ground in Palm Beach County, Florida, killing everyone on board.
A recording of the air traffic control radio calls, capturing 20 year old co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras’ final moments was released to the public.
Moments before impact, the recording quickly becomes chilling, as Nathalia’s voice changes to sheer terror.
She said: “Mayday, mayday. We’re descending 10,000 feet per minute! We are in an overspeed condition, descending 20,000 feet per minute. We’re going to crash into the ground!”
Despite facing instant death and her obvious fear of the situation, Nathalia remained composed and professional in her final moments, communicating with air traffic control until the end.
Nathalia had aspired to be a pilot since childhood and she gained her pilot licence when she was 17.
During her three years of working as a pilot, Nathalia gained 1,300 hours of flight experience.
However, the reaction online has displayed a disturbing level of misogyny and racism with many people blaming the tragedy on the fact that the co-pilot was a 20 year old Latina woman.
Many have taken to X to express that they believe the crash never would have happened if the pilot was male – despite the pilot being a 55 year old male.
X user, @JarredFishman said: “I was an officer in the Air Force and no way in hell would I be in a plane with a 20 year old girl pilot who has no military experience!”
Some users also had opinions regarding the age of the co-pilot – implying that Nathalia being 20 years old was a factor in the crash.
X user, @DudesTrucks said: “Sad that she lost her life as well as the other passengers. I personally would never get on a plane with a pilot or co-pilot that was 20 years old sorry.”
While many of the comments are referring to Nathalia’s ability to fly the plane, there is very little information regarding the plane’s pilot, Jeff Gregory in media outlets.
The display of negative comments towards Nathalia is a classic example of misogyny – as it implies that women are incapable of performing the same tasks as men.
However, the comments are not simply referring to Nathalia’s gender and age – there are also many displays of racism, due to the fact that Nathalia is Latina.