We're looking back on a year of resilience, recovery and a community coming together after a medical jet crashed in Northeast Philly on Jan. 31, 2025.
NBC10 is taking a look back at the night when a medical jet crashed on Cottman Avenue near Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan. 31, 2025. Who was killed? Who was hurt? How have business and home owners recovered?Jan.
31, 2026, marks one year since a medical jet crashed near Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia, shaking the community and changing the City of Brotherly Love forever. Six people who were on the flight and two people in a car on the ground were killed in the crash. Dozens of others were left hurt with hundreds of homes and businesses damaged. "It’s really hard to operate a business for 30 years and relocate in five days over there and think that everything’s going to be back to normal and it’s not," business owner Greg Ott said. Multiple videos obtained by NBC10 that night showed the plane plummeting from the sky, crashing to the ground and a massive explosion shortly after. We are taking a look back on a year where we experienced resilience, recovery and a community that came together to try and comprehend this devastating tragedy.a Learjet 55 operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance crashed Officials said the plane had taken off from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport at 6:06 p.m. and was in the air for just 22 seconds before it crashed into the sidewalk on Cottman Avenue. Everyone aboard the flight was killed along with two people on the ground. At least 24 others were hurt. Nearly five blocks of Northeast Philadelphia became unrecognizable as debris fell from the explosion and a massive fire that followed which engulfed homes, cars and businesses.The Learjet 55 medical plane was transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four crew members when it crashed, officials said.as Captain Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales, co-pilot Josue de Jesus Juarez Juarez, Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo and paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla. Jet Rescue told NBC10 that the pilots had years of experience flying in the U.S. and internationally.The agency also said that the Mexican pilots, Capt. Montoya Perales and co-pilot Juarez Juarez, had the proper licensing required to fly a Learjet 55 and they were certified to fly in inclement weather.Officials have said that all of the individuals on the plane were from Mexico. The flight’s final destination was scheduled to be Tijuana after a stop in Branson, Missouri, according to a Jet Rescue spokesperson.Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said on Feb. 3, 2025, that officials believed at least 24 people were hurt when the plane crashed in Northeast Philly. Philadelphia resident Steven Dreuitt, 37, was driving to the Macy's store at Roosevelt Mall with his girlfriend Dominique Goods-Burke, 34, and his son 9-year-old Ramesses Raziel Dreuitt Vazquez., along with Goods-Burke, who had suffered burns on over 70% of her body, officials said at the time the incident occurred. Dreuitt's son was taken to a hospital where he remained for many months after the crash. He suffered burns to 90% of his body as well as internal and external wounds.He was in the car with his dad and two siblings when he shielded his sister from the danger of the falling debris, his family had said. Andrew Parker Felix, a Florida-based lawyer, represented a man who was driving home from work when his SUV became engulfed in jet fuel from the crash. He said the man spent 11 days in an intensive care burn unit, enduring skin grafts. Jefferson Health had shared with NBC10 that they provided care for 15 individuals who were hurt when the plane crashed. In the days following the plane crash, city officials noted that over 350 properties were damaged in the massive explosion and fire ball that had engulfed everything in its path. A five block radius of Northeast Philadelphia had come to a screeching halt with roads closed and businesses forced to shut down as investigators worked and crews tried to make repairs.“All the plane debris came through these windows, hit my wall, broke up my concrete outside and everything just got blown right through here," Ott explained. He said that the city helped with his permitting process and he was able to get the business back in working order in a little over a month. Still, Ott said, he's grateful, recalling that the last of his employees left that day just minutes before the deadly crash. "I can replace all this. My major concern was: Was anybody in the building? Then I finally got ahold of people and they’re like, 'They left. They’re safe,'" Ott said. Vanessa Graham, who lives in the area, said that she was still working to get a roof repaired six months later following the crash. One neighbor, Delores Brooks, said that she lives on Rupert Street and she ran out of her home the night of the crash fearing for her safety. “I’m pushing through a lot of this and I’m just moving forward and getting the help that I need because it gives me anxiety just to think about it," Brooks explained. “I’ve had a lot of support through this, and I really appreciate that. It really means a lot to me.”Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site of the crash for several days. It was found at the site of the initial impact – near Cottman Avenue and Rupert Street – at a depth of eight feet in the crater left by the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board also recovered the aircraft's enhanced ground proximity warning system . The cockpit voice recorder -- or "black box" -- recovered from the medical jet that crashed in Northeast Philadelphia, killing seven people and injuring several others, never recorded the flight audio and likely wasn't working for several years, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed in a preliminary report. NBC10's Claudia Vargas has the details and reaction from Patrick Hempen, who recently retired as the director of the FAA's Aviation Accident Investigation Unit.where they said that the cockpit voice recorder was not working and likely had not been working for several years. According to the preliminary report, the medical jet departed runway 24 at Northeast Philadelphia Airport en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri at 6:06 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2025.“Medevac med service 056 contact Philly departure 123.8,” the traffic controller said. After departing the airport, the plane proceeded to the southwest before turning right slightly and then entering a gradual left turn, the NTSB report said. The plane then continued in the left turn and reached an altitude of 1,650 feet mean sea level , according to the NTSB. However, shortly after takeoff, the air traffic controller repeatedly tried to make contact with the pilot again but received no response. “This is 765. We have a lost aircraft,” the air traffic controller said. “We’re not exactly sure what happened so we’re trying to figure it out. For now, the field is going to be closed. So no inbounds or outbounds probably.” The air traffic controller then grounded all flights coming in and out of Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The NTSB said the track data for the flight ended at 6:07 p.m. ET with the plane traveling at 242 knots ground speed. The NTSB said the plane initially impacted a concrete sidewalk in a residential and commercial area on Cottman Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia, about three miles away from the airport.NBC10 reached out to the NTSB for an update regarding the crash investigation on Jan. 19, 2026, and we were told that there isn't any new information available.One man who worked at a gas station just two blocks away explained that he heard a loud sound and the building started shaking.He said after the loud bang, there was a large fire visible from where he was standing inside the gas station. A man who works at a gas station just two blocks from where the medical jet crashed in Northeast Philadelphia talked to NBC10's Siobhan McGirl about what he saw. The man explained that he tried to keep the door shut so the other people would stay safe from anything falling from the sky. "People kept trying to walk towards the smoke. There was black smoke. You could smell the jet fuel," he told NBC10. According to the witness, there was an entire line of cars completely engulfed in flames as well as a nearby home.He said he was inside Roosevelt Mall when the building shook.Witness describes what they saw right when a small plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia Friday evening."And then I see a person running on fire," he said."I can't get that out of my head." Gustavo Chaves was home with his wife, Sam, near the site of the crash when he suddenly felt what he described was like an"earthquake." He looked outside and saw an orange-lit sky. " whole house shook. And then I was like, 'There's an earthquake.' Because, you know, it happened I was like, 'It's an earthquake again,'" Chaves recalled."I opened the window and it's like daylight outside, like complete, just orange. And I was like, 'Something really bad happened.'"the journal Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Human factors that can include pilot error or disorientation, impairment and fatigue contributed to 87% of the fatal crashes.In 2023, five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside.Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, marks one year since the Learjet 55 crashed in Northeast Philadelphia.Throughout our reporting, we saw neighbors rushing to help each other, coming together to mourn those lost and a city rally around those affected by the crash. "I said it repeatedly that I can replace bricks and sticks," Business owner Greg Ott had told NBC10."We were so fortunate.”
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