MIAMI — Harrowing recordings shortly before a Learjet 60 fatally crashed in Palm Beach County reveals air traffic control advised the 20-year-old co-pilot to “expect better rides ahead” moments before the plane hurtled into a thunderstorm and went down, killing all nine on board.

Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, of Boca Raton, was the one heard speaking with controllers at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center as the private plane, captained by 55-year-old Jeffrey Gregory, headed to the Bahamas from Texas with seven passengers.

Her conversation lasted just more than two minutes the afternoon of Nov. 1, as the plane hit a large thunderstorm over South Florida. The recordings reveal how quickly the plane descended.

Her chilling last words heard in the recording: “We’re out of time.”

When the conversation began, there wasn’t a hint of something seriously wrong.

“Miami 722 Bravo Delta 350, turning direct Freeport,” Filgueiras radioed to Miami air traffic controllers at around 12:47 p.m. “We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence.“

“Aircraft with light, clear ice and moderate turbulence,” the controller responded, after briefly directing another aircraft. “Say again.”

“Moderate turbulence. Plus or minus. OK, now 700 feet, 600 feet,” Filgueiras responded, sounding calm.

After a few more exchanges about the temperature and conditions, the controller said to let him know if the crew needed anything else.

“Thank you. If you have any better rides, let us know,” Filgueiras said.

“The rides do improve in my airspace. You’re kind of far outside of it right now, and you can expect better rides ahead,” the controller responded.

Filgueiras then said they were picking up precipitation and requested to climb from 35,000 feet to 37,000 feet. Air traffic approved it, but about 15 seconds after, Filgueiras sent out a distress call.

“722 Bravo Delta, we’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” she spoke with an urgent tone in her voice.

A few seconds later, Filguerias came back on.

“Declared emergency 722 Bravo Delta. We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” she yelled.

“November 722 Bravo Delta, roger, altitude. Your discretion. Let me know what you need,” the controller said.

“We’re gonna crash into the ground, 722 Bravo Delta,” she radioed, speaking quickly, rapid-fire.

“November two Bravo Delta, I’m here with you, talk to me.”

“We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees,” said Filgueiras, breathing heavily. In the background, it sounded as if Gregory was reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

Filgueiras then screamed, “Look outside, Jeff, look outside. Holy (expletive). We’re out of time.”

The line cuts off, and controllers repeatedly tried to get back in touch with the crew. They couldn’t.

Filgueiras’ father, Allan Filgueiras, a licensed private pilot himself, said at a news conference Friday with his attorneys that he listened to the entire recording of Air Traffic Control communication with his daughter.

“I did listen to that, many times,” he said, “trying to find a clue in my head how that happened.”

He recounted thinking, “I wanted to be by her side, to help her.”

He said he helped teach her how to fly, and the two would often fly together to Key West or Naples. When she got her license, she told her dad she was now getting paid to do something she would gladly pay to do.

Michael Henderson, who runs California-based Legal Eagles Aviation and a flight school, questioned why the Learjet wasn’t diverted around the thunderstorm system when other pilots could be heard communicating with air traffic control that day about weather deviations.

“It’s the weather that destroyed the plane,” he said. “The question is why did they fly into it.”

He added the Learjet 60 has a problem with stalling in challenging weather, saying the airflow over the wings can exceed Mach speed, or the speed of sound, and in turbulent situations, the high airflow can cause the aircraft to nosedive in what’s called Mach tuck.

“We’re getting really tired of hearing this: All pilot error, they flew into a cell and that’s it,” he said. “There’s more behind this than weather.”

Bombardier, the company that manufactures the Learjet 60, shared a statement in response to questions about the safety of its plane.

“We at Bombardier are deeply saddened by this tragic event and extend our sincerest sympathies to all those affected,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to The Miami Herald. “In accordance with Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO), Bombardier cannot comment on the potential causes of an accident until the investigation is complete.”

David Evans, who holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and runs Arizona-based aviation services company Hi-Per Aviation, said by the time the crew accumulated ice and realized there was a problem, it may have been too late to correct.

“If that all occurred, they would need to get control very quickly,” he said. “By the time they had it all figured out, they lost control of the aircraft. They lost control so much it was nonrecoverable.”

Henderson, who holds a masters in physics, said the aircraft likely began to bank 60 degrees because it lost its elevator, which he estimated broke off at around 22,000 feet based on pieces found on the ground nearly four miles from the crash site.

The plane crashed off Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North near West Palm Beach.

National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said Tuesday that three pieces of the left elevator, which is attached to the tail of the plane and controls the plane’s up-and-down pitch, were found scattered 1.3 to 3.8 miles from the crash site in Greenacres. The NTSB is investigating the crash.

Henderson said it appeared as though the aircraft was trying to skirt around the main part of the thunderstorm system when it got caught.

Icing can affect the airflow over the wing and cause stalling, but rough air can also harm the structure of the plane, according to Keith Cianfrani, a retired military and commercial pilot who runs Florida-based Aviation Safety Consultants.

“If we’re at that altitude and turbulence in the thunderstorm, it could actually rip an aircraft apart,” Cianfrani said.

He said the question investigators will examine isn’t just whether icing or turbulence or another factor caused the crash.

“We don’t just look at weather,” he said. “We look at the decisions leading up to it.”

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