There was
speculation that the pilots might have been gassed, similar to the
United Airlines crew during the Twin Towers attack on 9/11.
I wouldn't be surprised if the black boxes are too damaged to recover any data.
Preliminary flightpath analysis indicates the ambulance Learjet 55 which crashed in Philadelphia had climbed to about 1,500ft before steeply descending and striking the ground. Its high-energy impact spread pieces of wreckage over a wide area of a suburb about 2.5nm from the departure end of...
www.flightglobal.com
Preliminary flightpath analysis indicates the ambulance Learjet 55 which crashed in Philadelphia had climbed to about 1,500ft before steeply descending and striking the ground.
Its high-energy impact spread pieces of wreckage over a wide area of a suburb about 2.5nm from the departure end of Northeast Philadelphia airport’s runway 24, from where it took off on 31 January.
Investigators have located the Learjet’s two engines, and retrieved the cockpit-voice recorder, disclosing that it was found at the point of impact at a depth of 8ft (2.4m).
Search personnel have also located the jet’s enhanced ground-proximity warning system which could also provide the inquiry with valuable flight data.
The aircraft’s flight “lasted less than a minute”, said National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge Ralph Hicks during a 1 February briefing.
Hicks says the jet made a “a slight right turn, followed by a slight left turn” before the descent –
although the inquiry has yet to establish whether this motion is relevant to the crash.
Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker, speaking on 1 February, said four crew members, a patient and a relative were on board the jet, and that the fatalities also include at least one person in a car.
City of Philadelphia managing director Adam Thiel says a number of individuals are in hospital, adding that there are “a lot of unknowns” about the identities and locations of people who were in the vicinity at the time of impact.
“We also have debris in a remote area where something happened with the aircraft,” he says, without elaborating.
The NTSB was not aware of any object falling from the aircraft at the time of its briefing – or the specifics of the remote debris claim – but encouraged the submission of video evidence from witnesses.
Chair Jennifer Homendy says there was no communication from the aircraft about problems before air traffic control lost contact with the flight.
Philadelphia jet crash victims identified; cockpit voice recorder recovered Snip
Updated Mon, February 3rd 2025 at 10:34 AM
PHILADELPHIA (TNND) — Four of the passengers
killed in a medical transport jet crash in Philadelphia Friday have been identified by the Mexico-based company that was operating the plane.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said a child patient and five other people were on the Learjet 55 when it plummeted to the ground shortly after takeoff around 6:30 p.m.
The child had recently completed treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia hospital for a condition not easily treated in Mexico, hospital officials said. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said all six victims on the plane were from her country.
A spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance confirmed the names of the four crew members who were killed in the crash:
- Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales
- Copilot Josue de Jesus Juarez Juarez
- Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo
- Paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla
The Ensenada municipal government confirmed Valentina Guzmán Murillo was the child receiving treatment and that her mother, Lizeth Murillo Osuna accompanied her.
On Saturday, Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a press conference that one person on the ground who was in a car was killed in the crash. The individual has not been identified.
In an update on Sunday, Parker said 22 people were injured and five of them remain hospitalized. At least 11 homes were significantly damaged, along with some businesses.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The jet's cockpit voice recorder was recovered at the impact site at a depth of about 8 feet, the
NTSB reported in a Sunday update. Also recovered was the aircraft's ground proximity warning system, which could contain flight data.
(I know they would have oxygen on board which most likely contributed to the explosion - but really?). He also says that in one lot of footage, it appears as if something 'comes off' the plane just prior to impact (5.30 min). 
