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 has released its docket on the 2025 fatal air ambulance crash in northeast Philadelphia, detailing that the Med Jets (Jet Rescue Air Ambulance) flight crashed less than a minute after takeoff in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), killing seven people and extensively damaging properties.
Investigation data indicates the aircraft reached 1,650 feet, then rolled left to nearly 90 degrees before entering a near-vertical dive and impacting the ground at full power.
A key area of NTSB focus is a discrepancy in the pitch trim setting (found at 3.97 degrees vs. recommended ~5.5 degrees), though calculations suggest control forces would have been manageable for the crew.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) was found to be inoperative for years and did not record the accident flight, significantly hindering the investigation into crew actions; the instrument and night currency of the experienced pilots also remains undetermined.

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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.