NTSB Releases Surveillance Videos and Investigative Reports From Fatal Philadelphia Learjet 55 Crash
Why It MattersThe expanding docket underscores heightened scrutiny of air-ambulance operations and the operational and maintenance records that regulators examine after fatal charter accidents.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a new batch of investigative material on Tuesday, August 18, from its probe into the January 2025 Learjet 55 crash in Philadelphia, bringing the public docket to 59 items. The newly added footage includes doorbell-camera and drive-thru recordings of the aircraft's final seconds, along with surveillance video from Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport and Northeast Philadelphia Airport showing the crew's preflight inspection and the aircraft taxiing for departure.
The Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, departed Northeast Philadelphia Airport shortly after 6 p.m. on January 31, 2025, carrying a pediatric patient, her mother and four crew members bound for Tijuana, Mexico. The aircraft was airborne for approximately 22 seconds before crashing near Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Mall, killing all six people aboard and two people on the ground, with at least 24 others injured.
The docket also contains an operational factors factual report, an accident flight risk assessment, pilot training and flight-time records, aircraft weight-and-balance information, a checklist page recovered from the wreckage, and reports covering the cockpit voice recorder, enhanced ground proximity warning system, aircraft performance and FAA ADS-B data. The NTSB said the cause of the crash has not been determined and that the released documents are factual investigative material, not final findings or probable cause; the investigation is ongoing.
