A medical jet transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Learjet 55, said in a statement: “We cannot confirm any survivors.” There was no immediate word whether anyone on the ground was killed, but at least six people were treated for injuries at a hospital.
Everyone aboard the flight was from Mexico. The child was being transported home, according to Jet Rescue spokesperson Shai Gold. The flight’s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri.
The patient and her mother were on board along with four crew members. Gold said this was a seasoned crew and everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training.
“When an incident like this happens, it’s shocking and surprising,” Gold said. “All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.”
The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB said an investigator arrived and more officials would be there Saturday.
Air traffic control loses contact with the plane
According to the flight tacker company FlightAware, the jet took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport – which primarily serves business jets and charter flights – at 6:06 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.
“Medevac, med service zero-five-six on departure turn right hitting two-niner zero. Runway two-four cleared for takeoff. Wing 25010,” the air traffic controller tells the pilot moments before the medical jet took off. “Medevac med-service zero-five-six confirmed. Is on departure turn right hitting two-niner-zero. Runway two-four cleared for takeoff.”
In audio captured by Air Traffic Control radio, officials were able to clear the medical jet for takeoff but then lost contact with the flight moments before it crashed in Northeast Philadelphia. NBC10's Tracy Davidson has more.
The air traffic controller then makes contact with the plane on departure. The pilot then responds.
“Medevac med service 056 contact Philly departure 123.8,” the traffic controller says.
“123.8 (inaudible) 056 medevac. Thank you. Good day,” the pilot responds.
After takeoff, the air traffic controller repeatedly tries to make contact with the pilot again but receives no response. The flight path shows the plane made it about 1600 feet in the air before air traffic control lost contact.
The air traffic controller then refers to the plane as a lost aircraft.
“This is 765. We have a lost aircraft,” the air traffic controller says. “We’re not exactly sure what happened so we’re trying to figure it out. For now, the field is going to be closed. So no inbounds or outbounds probably.”
The air traffic controller then grounded all flights coming in and out of Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
The plane was in the air for less than 30 seconds before it crashed near the intersection of Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue. That location is about three miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
Arthur Wolk, an aviation expert talks about the plane crash that happened Friday night in Northeast Philadelphia.
Aviation expert weighs in on the crash
Multiple videos from witnesses showed the plane plummeting to the ground, causing a massive explosion. A doorbell camera captured video of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground near the Roosevelt Mall.
“I think the most important bit of evidence that we’ve seen so far is the doorbell video showing the aircraft descending at an incredible angle,” Arthur Wolk, an aviation expert, told NBC10. “Almost 45 degrees, which means that the airplane was out of control. No pilot would voluntarily descend any airplane at that angle. That probably resulted in the airplane striking the ground at over 400 knots and probably 5 or even 10,000 feet a minute going down that fast. So, something overtook this flight crew.”
A variety of cameras around Philadelphia captured the moment a small plane crashed.
Wolk spoke about the possible causes of the crash.
“Whether it was a mechanical malfunction that affected the pitch of the airplane if it was up or down. Whether it was a flight control malfunction that wouldn’t allow them to recover the airplane. Whether there was an instrument failure in the airplane that would not allow them to fly the airplane and the weather conditions that existed although there are duplicates of all those instruments with the first officer on the right seat,” he said. “And so that is less likely. I think given the horrible destruction, the sad, utter and complete destruction of this airplane, I think much of the evidence will have to come from the voice recorder to see what the crew was talking about and perhaps if they communicated their emergency to air traffic control, those air traffic control tapes might be helpful as well. And then that might drive the investigation to look at whatever small pieces that are left to see what if any malfunction there was.”
Did the weather play a role in the crash?
While conditions were cloudy and rainy for most of Friday, NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist Brittney Shipp described it as a “typical rainstorm.”
At 5:54 p.m. on Friday, about 10 minutes before the crash, visibility was at six miles at the Northeast Philadelphia Airport with wind speeds at 10 mph.
There was low visibility when the medical jet crashed in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday night. NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist Brittney Shipp has your forecast.
“Those are not strong wind speeds,” Shipp said. “There were no wind advisories. This was just, again, a typical rainstorm that was moving through today.”
Shipp said there were also low hanging clouds with a low ceiling throughout most of the day. Low clouds can make it difficult to see and for planes to take off and land.
"This wasn't perfect visibility but it was pretty typical for the type of rainstorm that we saw today," Shipp said.
What we know about the Learjet 55
“The Lear 55 was an outgrowth of all the Lear jets that we are all familiar with and have heard about over the years. It’s a much larger version. It has a much larger interior and therefore it’s used a lot now for medevac purposes because you can get stretchers and other kinds of equipment in there and out of there and more easily than in the smaller Lear jets,” Wolk said.
“Very, very fast airplane. As fast as any airliner. Even faster. Flies very high up in the 50 thousands of feet. Relatively fuel efficient. Can fly a long way and because it’s so fast if you have a medical emergency patient, it allows you to get them from place to place quickly. It’s a two-pilot airplane. In other words, you have to have two certified flight tested pilots at the controls. It has fully duplicated controls. It’s a very sophisticated airplane for its day. It hasn’t been made probably for the last 15 or 20 years. But it was a remarkable airplane when it was built and continues to fly in significant numbers around the world today.”
What is an air ambulance?
An air ambulance provides transportation to people in critical or life-threatening situations when a ground ambulance can’t reach a patient or wouldn’t get to them fast enough.
They help boost a patient's odds of surviving and recovering, particularly in rural areas that don't have trauma or burn centers, according to a 2017 U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
They've grown in importance as more rural hospitals have closed, according to a medical journal report from 2022.
Air ambulances can be either a helicopter or a fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters are generally used to take patients between hospitals or from the scene of an accident to a hospital. The airplane versions fly longer distances between airports.
Helicopters make up 74% of all air ambulances, according to the GAO report.
Who rides air ambulances?
People with traumatic injuries, pregnancy complications, heart attacks, strokes and respiratory diseases are the most common users of air ambulances, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. More than 550,000 patients in the U.S. use them every year.
In Hawaii, for example, they are frequently used to take patients from less populated islands, where health care is more limited, to Honolulu, where the state’s biggest hospitals are located.
The owner of the plane that crashed in Philadelphia, Jet Rescue, flew baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz to Boston after he was shot in the Dominican Republican in 2019.
What are they equipped with?
Air ambulances will often have similar life-saving equipment like ventilators and blood transfusion devices. They will have stretchers and incubators.
The Mayo Clinic, for example, said its air ambulances will have an external defibrillator, an external pacemaker and more than 60 medications.
Paramedics and emergency medical technicians care for patients on board. Sometimes doctors and nurses are on board.
What does an air ambulance cost?
The average air ambulance trip is 52 miles (84 kilometers) and costs between $12,000 and $25,000 per flight, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The medical condition of the patient and the staff on board can influence the price.
Many insurers will pay what they believe to be a reasonable but sometimes they will disagree with the air ambulance provider and in these cases the patient may have to pay the difference.
Insurance experts say big invoices are becoming more common as costs rise and coverage shifts.
Have there been other fatal crashes with air ambulances?
Yes, there were 87 accidents that led to 230 deaths from 2000 to 2020, according to a study in the journal Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. Nearly three-fourths of those accidents were on helicopters.
Human factors that can include pilot error or disorientation, impairment and fatigue contributed to 87% of the fatal crashes.
The Philadelphia crash was the second fatal incident in 15 months for Jet Rescue. In 2023, five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside.
