
'Very important' evidence found miles from Learjet crash site in Florida, investigator says
By Marcus Chen
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The pilot of a business jet that crashed in Florida, killing all nine people aboard, was a longtime aviator, husband and father from the Philadelphia suburbs, according to a colleague who organized an online fundraiser for his family and social media posts from people who knew him.Jeff Gregory, 55, was one of two crew members in the cockpit of the Bahamas-bound Learjet 60 as it encountered bad weather and slammed into the ground Sunday afternoon in Greenacres, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) southwest of West Palm Beach.As the plane plunged, a man’s voice could be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the background of the copilot’s final radio transmissions to air traffic control. Friends are convinced it was Gregory, a devout Christian.A federal investigator said Monday that parts of the jet likely started to break off before it struck the ground. Gregory’s co-pilot, 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, told air traffic controllers that ice was accumulating on the plane and that seve