PHILADELPHIA - A small medical plane carrying six people crashed near a shopping centre in northeast Philadelphia on Friday night, apparently leaving no survivors and sending a large fireball into the air that engulfed vehicles and homes in flames, authorities said.
The Learjet 55 was transporting a young female patient from Philadelphia, where she had been treated for a medical emergency, to her home in Mexico, said Shai Gold, a spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which owns the plane.
She was accompanied by her mother and the plane’s crew, consisting of two pilots, a doctor and a paramedic, Gold said. The patient had been treated at Shriners Children’s in Philadelphia, said hospital spokesperson Mel Bower.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that all six people on the plane were Mexican nationals.
Several people injured in connection with the crash were taken to Temple Health. Three were released after treatment, and three others remained hospitalised, said spokesperson Jennifer Reardon, without elaborating on whether they had been on the plane or on the ground.
The plane had a planned stop in Missouri for fuel before its final destination, Tijuana International Airport, Gold said.
Based on the intensity of the crash and the debris field, “we are doubtful that there are any survivors”, he said.
The plane had taken off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport and was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri when it crashed, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It crashed five kilometres away about 6pm, across from the Roosevelt Mall, local authorities said.
“Several dwellings and vehicles were impacted,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a news conference.
She told residents not to touch anything that looked like debris and to stay inside if possible. Shelter was being provided for residents at a local high school. (Story continues below)
Debris of the crashed aircraft lies on the road at the site of a plane crash in Philadelphia on Friday night. (Photo: Reuters)
Sharp descent
It is unclear why the plane crashed. The jet plummeted to the ground within a minute of takeoff, according to Flightradar24, an aviation tracking website. Data broadcast by the plane indicated that at one point, it was descending at 11,000 feet per minute, according to the website.
Video appeared to show the twin-engine plane descending at a sharp angle towards a residential area, sparking a huge fireball upon impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles.
An air traffic controller tried several times to communicate with the pilot after the jet took off but got no response, according to an audio transmission.
After a long silence, a controller said: “We have a lost aircraft. We’re not exactly sure what happened, so we’re trying to figure it out.”
Killiom Pontes, 38, a manager of a mobile phone store about a kilometre from the crash site, said the impact had caused the windows of the business to shake.
“‘What the hell just happened?’” he recalled saying to himself. “At first, I thought it was an earthquake, but then we saw the big boom.”
Pontes said he drove to the scene, which he described as in a busy commercial area. He started streaming live video of flames and debris.
“I saw a big hole in the ground,” he said. “I was in shock how much debris there was.”
A spokesperson for the Roosevelt Mall’s owner, Brixmor Property Group, said the plane had crashed in front of the shopping centre.
“At this time, we’re not aware of any injuries or damage at the property, which has been evacuated,” said Kristen Moore.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance conducts 600 to 700 flights a year and specialises in critical-care patients, Gold said. In its 27 years of operation, it has had one other fatal episode, when five crew members died in November 2023, he said.
US President Donald Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social platform that he was “sad” to see “more souls lost” in the Philadelphia tragedy. He praised first responders, adding: “God Bless you all.”
Witnesses told local TV crews that they saw body parts in or near the wreckage, as Philadelphia City Council member Mike Driscoll said he feared residents or others on the ground may have been killed.
“It doesn’t look good. And it’s a sad situation here,” he told CNN.
The FAA said it was launching an investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). (Story continues below)
Washington tragedy
Both agencies are already investigating the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter century, after a passenger jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday.
The airliner with 64 people onboard was landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington — just a few kilometres from the White House — when it collided with the US Army helicopter on a training mission.
Divers on Friday were searching for the remaining bodies in the frigid Potomac River, after having pulled at least 41 from the water.
Investigators found the helicopter’s black box after having already retrieved the cockpit voice and flight data recorder from the Bombardier jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary.
Officials are confident data can be fully extracted from the recorders, said NTSB member Todd Inman, adding an investigation was still being carried out.
However, the lack of clarity over the accident’s cause did not deter Trump from continuing with his politicised commentary.
He appeared to place blame on the military helicopter in a post on the Truth Social platform, saying it was “flying too high, by a lot”.
This followed a news conference Thursday where the Republican pinned the blame for the crash on his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama, claiming without evidence they had hired the wrong people due to non-discrimination initiatives known as DEI.
Aviation experts homed in on whether the helicopter crew could see through military night-vision goggles — and whether the control tower was understaffed.
