NTSB releases new details on fatal Philadelphia Learjet air ambulance crash

The National Transportation Safety Board has released an extensive docket on its ongoing investigation into the fatal crash of an air ambulance jet in northeast Philadelphia earlier this year. The material includes photographs, analysis and several hundred pages of newly disclosed information.

The aircraft was operated by Med Jets, doing business as Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, a Mexico-based long-distance aeromedical transport company. According to the NTSB, the carrier was working in the United States under authorization from the FAA's Dallas International Field Office, and was not permitted to conduct scheduled passenger flights. The flight in question was a charter air ambulance mission.

Per the docket, the jet departed Northeast Philadelphia Airport at around 6:07 p.m. on January 31, bound first for Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri to refuel before continuing to its ultimate destination. It took off in instrument conditions, with a reported cloud ceiling of just 400 feet.

Air traffic control told the crew to fly the runway heading and climb to 2,000 feet, then issued a turn to a heading of 290 degrees. The pilots acknowledged the instruction. It was their final transmission.

Less than a minute after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into a densely populated residential area while still at full power. All six people on board were killed, along with one person on the ground. Four others suffered serious injuries and twenty sustained minor injuries. More than 366 properties were damaged, and wreckage was scattered across roughly a quarter of a mile. Video captured by doorbell and dashboard cameras recorded the aircraft's descent, according to the NTSB material.