Former NFL star Joe Mixon has spoken out about his chilling connection to the Florida Learjet crash that killed all nine people on board.
Mixon, 30, revealed on social media that he had flown on the exact same aircraft just weeks earlier with the same two pilots who died in Sunday’s disaster. The ex-running back posted his tribute after co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, was identified among the victims.
“I flew on that exact aircraft last month with those same two pilots,” Mixon wrote. He described them as “incredible professionals and genuinely wonderful people.”
The former Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans player added that learning about Filgueiras’s bright future made the loss even more devastating. “Hearing the young woman’s story and learning about the bright future she had ahead of her makes it even more heartbreaking that her life was cut so short,” he continued.
Mixon said he was “absolutely devastated by yesterday’s tragic plane crash in Florida.” His heart, thoughts and prayers went out to the grieving families and loved ones of everyone on board, he wrote. “A tragic reminder of how fragile life is. Love on your loved ones while you can, because you never know what tomorrow may bring.”
The Learjet plunged 35,000 feet in just over a minute before crashing into the South Florida neighborhood of Greenacres. According to LiveATC.net, the pilot’s final transmission to controllers was: “We’re going to crash into the ground.” Moments earlier, the pilot had radioed: “We’re descending 8,000 – mayday, mayday – we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.”
Among the seven passengers killed were tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, his wife Helen Sharp, and their two children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2. A joint family statement described Adam and Helen as devoted parents for whom the children were “the light of their lives.” “Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever,” the statement read. “Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives.”
Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina also perished in the crash. Reed and Fehr were described by their families as “full of joy and adventure” who “loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation.”
The Robinson and Sharp family statement noted: “Their loss will be felt deeply by all those who loved them and who they loved in return.” Reed and Fehr’s families shared that “from the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building.”
The Bahamas-bound private flight ended in catastrophe on November 1, with investigators still working to determine the cause of the rapid descent that left no survivors.
An investigation into the crash remains ongoing.