"We are going to die!": the co-pilot's last words before the Learjet crashed in Florida

The pilot of an executive jet that crashed in Florida, killing all nine people on board, was a long-time aviator, husband, and father who lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia, according to a colleague who organized an online fundraiser for his family and social media posts from people who knew him.

Avión que se estrelló en Florida y dejó 9 muertos se estaba rompiendo en el aire, revela investigación

Jeff Gregory, 55, was one of two crew members in the cockpit of the Bahamas-bound Learjet 60 when it encountered bad weather and crashed into the ground on Sunday afternoon in Greenacres, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) southwest of West Palm Beach.

As the plane plummeted, a man's voice could be heard reciting the Lord's Prayer in the background of the co-pilot's final radio transmissions to air traffic control. His friends are convinced it was Gregory, a devout Christian.

A federal investigator indicated on Monday that several parts of the jet likely began to break off before it impacted the ground. Gregory's co-pilot, 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, informed air traffic controllers that ice was building up on the plane and that severe turbulence had jolted it up and down by more than 700 feet (210 meters).

"We are going to die!" she shouted before the jet crashed into the ground and erupted into a fireball.

Thomas Noetzel, director of operations at Upper Jets, the company that operated the flight, organized an online fundraiser to support Gregory's wife and children.

Gregory was a close personal friend and "knowing him has made me a better person," Noetzel wrote on the GoFundMe fundraising site.

"Jeff was a dedicated, conscientious, and deeply faithful man who had a genuine passion for flying and a great love for the Lord," posted Walter, Noetzel's father, on Facebook. "His journey on Earth may have ended, but I like to think that he is now flying among the angels, soaring in peace in the presence of our Lord."

Gregory held airline transport pilot and flight instructor certificates, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. He lived in Gilbertsville, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, and had previously worked for an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based charter flight company.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that Captain Jeff Gregory was one of the people who lost their lives," said April Honnen, director of charter sales at East Coast Jets, Inc., where he worked in 2016 and 2017. "Our prayers are with Jeff's family, his fellow crew member, the passengers, and everyone affected by this heartbreaking tragedy."

The Learjet impacted the ground with enough force to create a crater before bursting into flames. The impact scattered fragments of the plane over a wide area.

Images from the moment just before the aircraft impacted appear to show the horizontal stabilizer missing from the tail of the plane. About 600 nearby residents remain displaced, but only one injury was reported on the ground.

The plane took off from Austin, Texas. Among the victims were tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, relatives said.

Filgueiras' stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, told the New York Post that she sent a text message to her boyfriend about 10 minutes before the accident, writing: "There is turbulence, I have ice."

Tom Chapman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, noted on Monday that the weather will be a key point of the investigation. In about a month, a preliminary report will be released describing what happened, but it will likely take more than a year to determine the cause of the accident.