Pilot killed in Florida jet crash identified as S.C. college graduate

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The pilot of the Learjet that crashed in a Florida neighborhood on Sunday has been identified as a Bob Jones University graduate. According to university officials, Jeff Gregory was a 1993 graduate. His son, Tyler, also graduated from the school in May 2026. John Goldfuss, a college friend of Gregory’s, shared the following statement. “Jeff was a true friend who enjoyed talking to and caring about others,” John Goldfuss. “He loved to play his trumpet for the trumpet choir and for his society pep band. But more than his trumpet, he loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And one day when the trumpet of God sounds, we will rise in the air to be with Christ and Jeff will be reunited with us in Christ’s presence. Because of Christ, we have this hope.”A federal investigator said that the jet, which killed all nine people aboard, likely started breaking apart before it slammed into the ground and erupted in a fireball. The crash remains under investigation.