NTSB Releases New Details on Fatal Philadelphia Learjet Crash

Investigation into 2025 air ambulance accident focuses on pitch trim settings and nonfunctioning cockpit voice recorder.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, August 28, 2026 at 04:58 PM ET

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Meg Godlewski

NTSB investigators document the scene of the January 31, 2025, Learjet 55 crash in Philadelphia. [Credit: National Transportation Safety Board]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB released its docket on the 2025 fatal air ambulance crash in northeast Philadelphia, involving a Mexican operator, which crashed less than a minute after takeoff, killing seven people and extensively damaging over 366 properties.
Investigation points to a potential pitch issue, with the pitch trim actuator found set to 3.97 degrees, compared to a recommended 5.5 degrees, and the aircraft rolled to nearly 90 degrees left before diving while still at takeoff power.
A critical setback to the investigation is that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was not operational at the time of the accident and had likely been non-functional for several years.
Investigators have not yet determined the recency or currency of the pilots' instrument and night experience, nor which pilot was flying, with a final report expected in 8-12 months.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released the docket on the 2025 fatal air ambulance crash in northeast Philadelphia, containing several hundred pages of new information, analysis, and photographs gathered as part of its ongoing investigation.

The accident flight was operated by Med Jets, doing business as Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, an international aeromedical long-distance transport provider based in Toluca near Mexico City.