Photo Shows Captain Jeff Gregory in Portrait

This is the first released photo of the captain who was piloting the private jet that plunged to the ground and crashed in Florida, killing all nine people aboard.

The undated photo shows Captain Jeff Gregory smiling in his pilot uniform, wearing his wings and a tie.

East Coast Jets supplied the photo. Gregory was not flying one of the company’s jets when the crash occurred.

Gregory, 55, was at the controls on Sunday when a Learjet 60 encountered ice and moderate turbulence on a flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas. The jet plunged and crashed in Florida; the impact sparked a fireball and killed Gregory, his co-pilot, and all seven passengers.

Nathalia Gadelha was the co-pilot. She was 20 and had earned her pilot’s license at 17 while attending a Florida high school. Minutes before the crash, she texted her boyfriend: “I’ve got turbulence, I’ve got ice.”

In the distress audio, Gadelha is heard saying, “Holy f***, we’re out of time,” while a man, apparently Gregory, recites the Lord’s Prayer.

The passengers were Adam Robinson, his wife Helen Sharp, their young children Emma and Charlie, their friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, and their nanny Anita Maria Cetina.

The group was traveling to the Bahamas to celebrate Adam’s birthday.