Former NFL running back Joe Mixon said he was shaken to learn that he had flown on the private jet that crashed onto a Florida highway over the weekend. The two-time Pro Bowl player said he had been aboard the same aircraft about a month earlier, with the same two pilots.
“I flew on that exact aircraft last month with those same two pilots,” Mixon wrote on social media. He described them as skilled professionals and wonderful people, and said the news was especially painful after hearing about the young woman’s plans for the future.
Mixon sent his condolences to the victims’ families and urged people to cherish time with loved ones, noting how quickly life can change.
The Learjet 60 crashed in a Palm Beach County neighborhood on Sunday, killing all nine people aboard. Investigators said Monday that evidence suggested the jet may have begun breaking apart before the crash. They are focusing closely on weather conditions, including what the plane encountered at altitude.
The victims identified Monday included co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, and pilot Jeff Gregory, 55. Filgueiras, from Palm Beach County, had earned her private pilot’s license at 17, before she received her driver’s license. She trained at her high school’s aviation academy and later graduated from American Flyers flight school.
Also killed were Texas technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two children. Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, who were traveling together, were also among the victims.
