(PHILADELPHIA) — A small medical transport jet carrying a child and her mother along with four other people was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery “high-impact” crash near a busy mall Friday evening.
The Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, took off at 6:06 p.m. Friday, climbed to about 1,500 feet in the air and then rapidly descended, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Hicks told reporters during a press briefing Saturday.
“The entire flight lasted less than a minute,” Hicks said.
All six people aboard the jet died in the crash, including the child, who had just received care from Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia and was returning home with her mother. There were also four crew members on board. All were Mexican citizens, according to a statement from the Mexican government.
In addition to those aboard the aircraft, at least one person in a vehicle died in the crash, and there were at least 19 other people on the ground — in parking lots, in cars and nearby homes — were injured, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said in an earlier press briefing Saturday.
There was no indication of a problem radioed from the flight deck of the jet back to Air Traffic Control before the crash, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters. “In fact, in the recording that we have, there is an attempt by air traffic controllers to get a response from the flight crew that they didn’t receive,” she said.
The NTSB has classified the crash as an accident.
The “high-impact” crash left debris scattered across four to five city blocks, Homendy said. Investigators have yet to recover the jet’s black box, which she said may have been damaged or destroyed.
“It could be intact,” she said. “But likely it is damaged. It may be fragmented.”
Philadelphia residents or business owners who find debris should email the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov, Homendy said.
Earlier, the mayor said residents could also call 911 if they come across airplane debris.
Investigators will spend several days and, possibly, weeks collecting debris from the scene, the NTSB chair said.
At least five homes caught fire in the aftermath of the crash, Philadelphia officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
The crash of the medical jet came just two days after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
Homendy said her agency is able to carry out both investigations simultaneously.
“We are a highly skilled agency,” she said, adding that it’s not unusual for the board to investigate two incidents.
In a message posted on social media platform X, U.S. Transportation Sean Duffy called the back-to-back disasters a “heart-wrenching week.”
Regarding the Philadelphia crash, Duffy said, “We’re not going to have answers right away. It’s going to take time. But as I get those answers, I’m going to share it with all of you.”
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