Photographs released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) show the extent of ground damaged caused by last week’s deadly crash of a Bombardier Learjet 55, and the state of the jet’s recovered cockpit-voice recorder.
The investigatory agency on 4 February released the images, one of which shows investigators standing on the edge of a crater created when the air ambulance slammed into pavement at high speed.
Another photograph shows the Learjet 55’s smashed cockpit voice recorder, which the NTSB has said it recovered from 8ft below ground level.
The jet took off at about 18:06 local time on 31 January from Northeast Philadelphia airport and climbed to about 1,500ft before making a “steep decent” into the ground, NTSB investigator Ralph Hicks said on 1 February.
Video posted on social media purportedly shows the jet descending at a steep angle and at high speed before crashing with a large explosion.
The aircraft crashed into a “commercial and residential area”, killing six people aboard, said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy. The six people on the jet have been reported as four crew, a patient and a relative.
One person on the ground was also killed.
“This was a high-impact crash and the plane is highly fragmented,” said Homendy. “The debris field extends four or five blocks.”
The flight was headed to Springfield-Branson National airport in Missouri.
The aircraft had been operated by Med Jets USA, doing business as Mexico-based Jet Rescue, Homendy added.
