Small plane crashes in Northeast Philly; medical jet company says 6 on board; pediatric patient was on flight, hospital says

A medical jet with six people on board — including a pediatric patient — crashed Friday evening near the Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia, erupting into a massive fireball, scattering debris throughout the streets, and setting multiple homes and cars ablaze in a devastating scene.

In a briefing Friday night, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said there was no official number yet for how many people may have been killed or injured from the crash, but asked for the city’s prayers, and called the situation “all hands on deck.”

Another plane belonging to Jet Rescue Air Ambulance crashed in Mexico in 2023, according to news reports at the time and a LinkedIn post from the company's spokesperson.

News reports described the plane as a Learjet 35A. The jet that crashed in Philadelphia Friday was a Learjet 55.

A representative of Shriner's Children's Hospital in Philadelphia said they were "heartbroken" to confirm that one of their patients was on board the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance flight that crashed in Northeast Philadelphia Friday night.

The child, who is from Mexico, had received care at Shriner's and was returning home with her mother on "a contracted air ambulance," the hospital said. Shriner's declined to say more about the patient because of privacy concerns.

Before Friday's crash, the most recent fatal incident linked to Northeast Philadelphia Airport occurred in 2019, NTSB records show. In that incident, a single-engine Beech F33 lost control after takeoff and crashed in Hatboro killing all three occupants, a pediatric neurologist who worked at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and a professor at Drexel University College of Medicine, along with their teenage daughter.

The most recent non-fatal accident was in April, 2024 when a single-engine plane lost control during landing, causing extensive damage to the plane but no injuries.

The plane fell from the sky at rapid speed, crashing into the Cottman Avenue amid rush hour traffic and creating an explosion that engulfed multiple cars, businesses, and homes in flames.

Police were still working to determine how many of those cars — now burnt shells — were occupied. The flames from the burning jet fuel were so strong, the heat could be felt over a block away, said a law enforcement source at the scene who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

At the second briefing tonight by officials at the scene of the plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker again said she had no official numbers to provide on injuries or deaths, but she announced a shelter was being made available at Samuel Fels High School at 5500 Langdon Street.

Parker said an investigative team from the National Transportation Safety Board had arrived.

Shai Gold, a spokesperson for Jet Rescue, said that the patient being transported was a Mexican national, a child who came to Philadelphia for medical care. She had been discharged after completing her course of care, Gold said, and was being escorted back to Mexico by her mother.

The aircraft was registered in Mexico, Gold said, and crewed by a pilot, copilot, flight physician, and paramedic.

It was unclear if weather was a factor in Friday night’s small-plane crash in Northeast Philly, but conditions were far less than ideal, with reduced visibilities that are expected to persist into the early-morning hours..

At the time of the crash, about 6 p.m., light rain and fog were in progress with visibilities lowered to 5 to 7 miles, said Jon Porter, chief meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. He said the base layer of the clouds was 400 to 600 feet above the surface.

Flight logs show the busy medical jet made 11 trips this week, including numerous flights within Mexico. In the US it made stops in Phoenix, Ariz., Santa Ana, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M.

The Jet landed in Miami Thursday night from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It departed Florida this afternoon for it's trip to Philadelphia.

A 2018 profile by the trade publication Air Med and Rescue said that Jet Rescue is headquartered in Mexico City and "positions itself as the largest fixed-wing air ambulance company in Mexico and Central America."

The company specializes in "long-range, critical-care air ambulance missions" and "neonatal specialty care," Air Med and Rescue reported. On its website, Jet Rescue highlighted several instances where it helped transport newborns with serious health issues.

Temple Health had been expecting to receive patients at its main campus in North Philadelphia, but those patients were diverted elsewhere, a spokesperson said.

In the meantime, six patients were being treated at Temple University Hospital-Jeanes Campus in Northeast Philadelphia. Three of those patients had been treated and released by 9:15 p.m., the spokesperson said.

President Donald Trump commented on the small-plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia with a statement on Truth Social just after 9 p.m.

"So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls lost. Our people are totally engaged," Trump said. "First Responders are already being given credit for doing a great job. More to follow. God Bless you all."

Philadelphia firefighters battled blazes in six homes on the 7200 block of Calvert Street as a result of the plane crash, according to Mike Bresnan, head of the union that represents firefighters and paramedics.

Bresnan, president of the International Brotherhood of Fire Fighters Local 22, said he wasn’t aware of any casualties from inside those homes, saying “our members got everybody out pretty quick.”

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said there was no official number yet for how many people may have been killed or injured from the plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia, but she asked residents in the immediate area to stay inside and not interfere with the ongoing response and investigation.

"As of right now, we have no reports on the number of fatalities, so right now, we're just asking for prayers for any and everyone who may have been affected," Parker said to the media during a brief statement at the scene.

In a statement posted on LinkedIn, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, a medical flight company, posted that a Learjet 55 owned by the company, with the designation XA-UCI, crashed after taking off from Philadelphia.

The company wrote that four crew members and two passengers, a pediatric patient and their escort, were on board the plane.

Multiple businesses and homes were either hit by the plane as it descended or were otherwise impacted, according to state Rep. Jared Solomon, who represents the area and was on scene.

"[The plane] seemed to kind of ricochet into residential communities, that's where the fire occurred," he said. "There are cars burned to a crisp, charred on Cottman."

Gudelia Coz was at home with her two children when what she described as an earthquake-like feeling shook her home.

“The kids started crying and everything felt like it was moving,” Coz, who lives by Macy’s, said in Spanish.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that six people were on board the plane that crashed in Northeast Philadelphia. That report contradicts the initial statement by the Federal Aviation Administration, which said two people were on the plane.

Duffy was sworn in earlier this week as President Donald Trump’s administration transportation chief.

Aniyah White, 16, said she was on the sidewalk on Roosevelt Boulevard with a friend when they looked up and saw a plane spiraling in the sky. It was on fire, she said, and rapidly descending.

“It was coming down on fire,” she said. “Then boom. Explosion everywhere.”

A small plane that took off from the Northeast Philadelphia airport crashed into the street and authorities were still working to identify the number of casualties, according to City Councilmember Mike Driscoll, who represents the area and was on scene at 7:45 p.m.

Driscoll said it was still unclear how many people were on the plane. He cautioned initial reports could change.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying that a Learjet 55 that was on its way to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri has crashed around 6:30 p.m., shortly after taking off from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport. Two people were on board, the agency said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash in the coming days.

Thick black smoke could be seen at a distance from the corner of Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue.

A crowd of about a hundred bystanders stood behind caution tape on both sides of the Boulevard.

Ryan Tian, 23, of Delaware County, witnessed a huge explosion as he was getting dinner from a food truck located at a parking lot at Cottman and Bustleton Avenues.

Tian said he "saw the sky turning orange" and then a "massive fireball."

A plane reportedly crashed Friday evening in the area of Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia, police said.

Police reported that there was a possible plane crash shortly after 6 p.m. at Roosevelt Mall, which is located at Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue.