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The father of the 20-year-old co-pilot who died along with eight others when their Learjet crashed in Florida<\/a> said Friday he has listened to his daughter\u2019s heartbreaking final radio transmissions \u201cmany times\u201d since the crash.<\/p>\n Allan Filgueiras, himself a pilot, was searching for answers as to why the plane plunged from the sky on Sunday \u2014 but what he found was immense pride in how his daughter, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras<\/a>, handled the crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI did listen to that many times trying to find a clue. In my head. How\u2019d that happen? And wow, she\u2019s tough,\u201d Allan Filgueiras said at a news conference Friday, frequently holding back tears.<\/p>\n In her final conversation with air traffic control, she can be heard calmly reporting ice buildup on the plane as the Learjet flew into a thunderstorm and turbulence tossed it up and down by 700 feet (200 meters). The situation quickly escalated as the aircraft fell at breathtaking speed. \u201cDeclare an emergency 722-Bravo-Delta. We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her father and aviation safety experts have been impressed that Filgueiras continued to call out updates on what was happening even as she realized the plane’s fate was sealed.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the family \u2014 it\u2019s like having the heart torn from my chest,\u201d her father said in Spanish. \u201cI have to find a way to go on living.\u201d<\/p>\n The family wants to push back against online criticism over whether she had enough experience to be in the cockpit of a Learjet. She had more than 1,300 hours of experience and completed extensive training to earn her commercial pilot\u2019s license.<\/p>\n So her father held Friday’s news conference, which his lawyer said was designed to \u201cpreserve not just her memory, but her reputation.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cShe was at the top of her class in everything that she did, and she was perfectly qualified to be the co-pilot on this flight, despite her tender years,\u201d attorney Stuart Grossman said, noting there were no immediate plans to file a lawsuit over the crash.<\/p>\n