A twin-engine business jet crashed in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood Friday night. Flames and a large cloud of smoke could be seen Friday night at the crash scene across from a mall, which was evacuated. The FAA says six people were onboard the Leerjet-55, which left Philadelphia bound for Springfield-Missouri.
Jet Rescue, which is an Air Ambulance company, was operating the flight. It says along with four crew members, two passengers onboard included a pediatric patient and an escort. Philadelphia’s Mayor said several houses and vehicles “were impacted” by the crash. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro offered full state resources for the crash response.
Here’s a look at what First Responders were battling on the scene of the crash. Eyewitnesses were shocked by what they saw. One Eyewitness saying: “What had happened was like a movie honestly. The explosion flew all the way up into the sky and the whole building was shaking, everything was shaking and pieces of debris flying all around, all over here. So what had happened was I went down there to go see what was going on. And mind you it was all black smoke covering everything. The houses ended up catching fire down there. And like I said there was plane pieces everywhere on the ground. Pieces of metal everywhere on the ground.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says he is in contact with City Officials and is offering all “Commonwealth Resources” to assist with the response. The FAA says two people were on board. Flight data shows the aircraft taking off shortly after 6pm, and then disappearing from radar 30 second later once it reached an altitude of 1600 feet.