'Top Chef' host Tom Colicchio hits back at trolls who criticized 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras' piloting skills.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleNovember 1, 2026, seemed to be a doomed day for the families who lost their loved ones. For the unversed, a private jet named Learjet 60 nose-dived straight into the ground around 1 p.m. on November 1, 2026, while en route to the Bahamas from Texas. The aircraft began experiencing serious issues as it was flying over Palm Beach County, South Florida. The fatal crash claimed nine innocent lives, including two minors.
Amid this, an old interview featuring the 20-year-old Learjet co-pilot, who was identified as Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, surfaced online. Soon after the video surfaced online, some social media users trolled and questioned her aviation skills. Now, Top Chef host Tom Colicchio hits back at trolls.
Soon after the Florida plane crash made headlines, an old video of the 20-year-old Learjet 60 co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, began circulating on social media. In the 2023 interview, the then-17-year-old Nathalia shared her success story. She earned her pilot’s license at the age of 17. However, back then she didn’t get her driver’s license. She jokingly said:
"I definitely do brag because people say, 'Oh, you can’t drive,' and I’m like, 'Yeah, but I can fly.'"
The video soon went viral on social media, and some social media users began trolling her and questioning her piloting skills. Netizens began questioning her capabilities due to her young age and gender. Her lighthearted demeanor during the interview also raised eyebrows. Amid this, Top Chef host Tom Colicchio slammed trolls and wrote on Threads:
"Have a little grace."
Nathalia became a licensed pilot in 2023, when she was a 17-year-old senior at the West Boca Raton Community High School. She began her pilot lessons in 2020. In the 2023 interview, Nathalia said that she used to fly every day and had spent a total of 88 hours flying aircraft as part of her training. She also spoke about passing the knowledge test. She then opened up about her passion for aviation.
After gaining her license, the young aviator started working as an instructor at another school in Fort Lauderdale before getting another pilot job. In an interview with The New York Post, Nathalia’s mom, Camila, shared how much she loved aviation. She also mentioned everybody was impressed with her piloting skills. She said:
"Everybody was so impressed with her. They hired her because they knew how good she was and how much she loved it. I was so proud of her. I know she was living her dream."
Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras was born in January 2006. She grew up in Palm Beach County. She reportedly had 1,300 hours of flying experience. Her father also taught her how to fly an aircraft. She completed her schooling at West Boca Raton High School. She graduated from American Flyers, a flight training school based in Addison, Texas, which also has a branch in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Later, the young aviator attended the Aviation Academy run by the School District of Palm Beach County. The program was introduced in 2023 and helped her pay for her pilot’s license. Alongside Nathalia, the doomed aircraft also carried the 55-year-old male pilot, who was identified as Jeff Gregory. The air traffic control audio revealed Nathalia and Jeff’s desperate attempt to save the doomed aircraft from crashing.
The other victims were identified as 45-year-old Texas tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their children: 4-year-old Emma and 2-year-old Charlie; the kids' nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and Adam and Helen's friends, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr.
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