Charter Company in Learjet Crash That Killed Nine Says It Is Cooperating, as Families Name the Dead
Upper Jets, which owned the Learjet 60 that crashed into a Cresthaven neighborhood north of Miami on Sunday, gave its first statement Monday: condolences, support for the families, and full cooperation — with all further information to come from the NTSB investigation.
The company whose jet crashed into a South Florida neighborhood on Sunday has spoken for the first time. Upper Jets, the charter firm that owned the Learjet 60 that went down in Cresthaven, north of Miami, around 12:50 p.m. Sunday, killing all nine people on board, said Monday that it is cooperating with the investigation. 'We would like to provide our condolences to everyone affected by the catastrophic event of yesterday, November 1, 2026,' the company's director of operations, Thomas Noetzel, said in a statement to PEOPLE on Monday. 'Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this tragedy. We are committed to supporting the families of all those who lost a loved one yesterday, and are praying for them as we grieve together.'
Noetzel said any further information about the accident will come from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, and other authorities. 'Our team is cooperating with local, state and federal authorities to ensure an objective understanding of what occurred,' the statement concluded. The Federal Aviation Administration has said the flight took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to the Bahamas. One person on the ground suffered a minor injury, NTSB officials said. This desk's Sunday breaking file (SQ-20261101-049) carried the crash itself; what investigators can say about why it happened has not been released, and this story does not speculate.
The names of the dead are now emerging from their families, not from officials' lists. One of the pilots was Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, who worked for Upper Jets, according to The New York Times; she earned her pilot's license at 17 and had logged more than 1,300 flight hours. Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp and their two children also died, family members told The Palm Beach Post; the other passengers were identified as Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Apellido Cetina. In a joint statement shared with PEOPLE, the families said Adam and Helen were devoted parents, and that Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, were the light of their lives. The NTSB investigation continues; the road closures and the questions both remain, and this desk will file what officials confirm, when they confirm it.
