Florida Learjet crash victims identified: 20-year-old co-pilot, tech entrepreneur and family among dead | Today’s news
The family of a tech entrepreneur, their help, another couple and a co-pilot have been identified as victims of a private plane crash in South Florida on Sunday.
Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their children Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, according to a statement from the families of the seven passengers. Anita Maria Cetina, who helped take care of the children, also died.
Who was Adam Robinson?
According to his LinkedIn page, Robinson was the founder and CEO of RB2B and Retention.com and CEO of Moltsets.
He previously worked at global financial services firm Lehman Brothers and banking group Barclays.
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Robinson recently told the ProfitLed podcast that he and his family lived in Aspen, Colorado. “I feel like I’m living the dream,” Robinson, 45, said.
“I love the fact that I can see my kids morning and night and I don’t have to travel as much for work and I can live in this place that’s always been my dream,” he said. “And my wife is very happy because she can be a full-time artist.
According to The Associated Press, Robinson was known in Austin, Texas, where Retention.com was based. It’s the second time this year that Austin has lost a tech entrepreneur in a plane crash, following the June death of Joshua Baer, who ran a venture capital firm that backed tech startups.
“Adam was part of the entrepreneurial fabric of Austin,” Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, told the AP.
Two passengers, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, were also identified as dead in the crash. According to the family, the couple were “full of joy and adventure, loving each other fiercely and building a life together.”
It was not immediately clear what their relationship was with Robinson and Sharp.
The co-pilot had a pilot’s license before she could drive
Among the two crew members of the ill-fated private plane, one has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras. She was the co-pilot flying a Learjet from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas on Sunday when it crashed and exploded near West Palm Beach.
According to her family, Filgueiras has been a licensed pilot since she was a teenager. Filgueiras received her license in 2023 when she was a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School.
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Filgueiras’ pilot’s license showed that he was qualified to fly a jet but not to command the flight.
The Palm Beach County school district paid for her license as part of the high school’s specialized flight academy, in which students train to fly simulators and drones.
“Some people think it’s weird that I can fly planes but I can’t drive a car,” Filgueiras told WPEC-TV in 2023. “I think it’s funny.”
The identity of the pilot, who also died in the crash, has not yet been released.
