A young co-pilot and a family with their nanny were among nine people killed in a horror plane crash in Florida.

The families of those who perished when the private jet nosedived have identified their loved ones, but authorities are yet to formally identify anyone who was onboard amid ongoing investigations, 7 News reported.

Florida-born Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was identified as the “responsible, hardworking” co-pilot onboard the Learjet 60, which departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas on Sunday.

The plane bound for the Bahamas crashed in a residential neighbourhood near Cresthaven in Palm Beach County at about 12.50pm local time.

“She was a very good girl,” Filgueiras mother, Camila Gadelha Corteleti said, noting that her daughter was not qualified to make decisions onboard the plane in her role as a co-pilot.

Filgueiras’ father began flying for fun in 2018 and she began learning the ropes two years later, receiving her pilot’s licence when she was 17 with the help of her high school, which paid for her certification through prestigious aviation school American Flyers.

She had her pilot’s licence before she got her driver’s licence, her stepfather Thiago Corteleti said.

Filgueiras had logged 1300 flight hours and her goal was to become a commercial airplane pilot or fly private jets.

A recording of the mayday call to air traffic control captured her panicked final moments.

Captaining the flight was 55-year-old Pennsylvania pilot Jeff Gregory, according to TMZ.

Toddlers and parents perish onboard with the nanny.

A mother, father and their two toddlers have also be identified by family as passengers onboard the plane.

Helen Sharp, 40, and her husband, 45-year-old Adam Robinson, had been flying with their children two-year-old Charlie and four-year-old Emma.

“Adam and Helen were devoted parents,” a joint statement from the families of several of the plane crash passengers read.

“Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives. Their loss will be felt deeply by all those who loved them and who they loved in return.”

The family’s nanny Anita Maria Cetina was also onboard the flight.

“Anita Maria cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion and was truly part of the family. She showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion,” the statement said.

Another ‘deeply loved’ couple identified

Charmi Fehr and Rachael Reed were another couple onboard the plane.

They were described as “full of adventure” in the joint family statement.

“They loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation. From the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building. They are deeply loved, and we will miss them endlessly.”

The joint statement expressed the shared grief for the pilots who died alongside their loved ones.

“We are deeply grateful to the first responders, investigators, and the Palm Beach County community for their care, and to everyone who has reached out with love.

“Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us. We ask for privacy as we grieve. With love, the Robinson, Sharp, Reed, Fehr, and Cetina families.”

Crash under investigation

Plane crash investigators are now probing the tragedy, and whether storms played a role in the crash, which occurred not long after reports of manageable ice accumulation on the plane was reported alongside turbulence to air traffic control.

“Mayday, mayday—we're descending 10,000 feet per minute,” audio from a subsequent call said. “We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute.”

“We’re going to crash into the ground.”

Former Qantas pilot Richard de Crespigny, who safely landed infamous flight QF32 from Singapore to Sydney during unprecedented enginge failures in 2010, speculated about the Florida tragedy and ongoing investigation on Sunrise on Tuesday.

He said investigators will likely be looking at whether the plane’s horizontal stabiliser was somehow “ripped off the plane” at some point during the mid-air emergency.

De Crespigny said in that instance, a pilot would be unable to “hold the nose up” and the plane would dive at high speed “almost like a missile” — the plane appears similarly in footage of the moment it crashed.

“These aircraft are very strong. But the updrafts in thunderstorms are equally frightening at times.”

Source: 7 News / CNN/  NBC