It’s the kind of sound you don't just hear—you feel it in your teeth. On a Friday night in Northeast Philly, specifically January 31, 2025, the usual hum of rush hour traffic near the Roosevelt Mall was shattered by a roar that witnesses said sounded more like a missile strike than a mechanical failure. A Learjet 55, operated by a Mexican air ambulance company called Med Jets, fell out of the sky at a terrifying speed. It didn't just glide or sputter. It dropped.
Honestly, the scene was apocalyptic. The jet slammed into the intersection of Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, leaving a crater eight feet deep and sending a wall of orange fire into the sky. Basically, a quiet residential neighborhood was turned into a disaster zone in less than sixty seconds of flight time.
The Heartbreaking Reality of Flight MTS056
We now know the details of who was on that plane, and it makes the whole thing so much harder to stomach. The flight was a medevac mission. Onboard was 11-year-old Valentina Guzman Murillo. She had just finished weeks of treatment at Shriners Children's Philadelphia and was finally heading home to Mexico with her mother, Lizeth Murillo Osuna.
They never made it out of the city limits.
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The crew included pilot Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales, co-pilot Josue de Jesus Juarez Juarez, a pediatrician named Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo, and paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla. Everyone on the plane died instantly. But the tragedy didn't stop at the fuselage. The jet's impact and the resulting fireball engulfed vehicles on the ground. Steven Dreuitt, a 37-year-old Philadelphian, was killed in his car. His 9-year-old son, Ramesses, survived but suffered horrific burns over 90% of his body. Later, an eighth victim—a local woman—passed away from her injuries, bringing the total death toll to eight.
What the NTSB Investigation Found (and Didn't Find)
When a plane goes down like this, the first thing everyone looks for is the "black box." The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) eventually dug the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) out of the mud at the bottom of that impact crater.
Here is the kicker: it was useless.
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The NTSB preliminary report revealed that the recorder hadn't actually recorded anything for years. It was essentially a paperweight. While the Learjet may not have been strictly required by FAA rules to have a functioning recorder (due to its seating capacity), the lack of audio means we'll never hear the pilots' final moments or understand if they were battling a specific mechanical failure or a sudden loss of control.
What we do have is the radar data. It's chillingly brief.
- 6:06 PM: The jet takes off from Runway 24 at Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
- 6:07 PM: The plane reaches 1,650 feet.
- Seconds later: It enters a steep, 11,000-foot-per-minute descent.
- Impact: The entire flight lasted less than one minute.
Negligence and the Lawsuits That Followed
You've probably heard people talking about how "old" the plane was. They aren't wrong. The Learjet 55 involved in the Philadelphia plane crash was over 40 years old. In November 2025, the families of Dr. Arredondo and the Murillo family filed a massive wrongful death lawsuit.
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The allegations are pretty damning. The suit claims Med Jets (the operator) was "careless, negligent, and reckless." They argue the company failed to perform routine maintenance on an aging airframe. There's also the disturbing detail that this wasn't the company's first fatal incident; another of their jets reportedly went down under similar circumstances previously.
In a neighborhood where 343 homes were damaged or impacted, the anger is palpable. People want to know why a jet with a broken black box and a questionable maintenance record was cleared to fly over one of the most densely populated parts of the city.
The Lingering Impact on Rhawnhurst and Castor Gardens
If you walk down Cottman Avenue today, the physical scars are still there, but the emotional ones are deeper. For months after the crash, the city had to run mental health sessions for first responders and neighbors who couldn't unsee the "mushroom cloud" explosion.
The NTSB’s final report isn't expected until late 2026 or even 2027. Aviation experts like Arthur Wolk have pointed out that without the CVR, investigators have to rely on "fringe" data—things like the plane's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and metallurgical analysis of the engines. They are looking for cracks in the engine mounts or signs of a structural "break up" in mid-air, similar to issues seen in other aging Learjets.
What to Keep an Eye On
- The Final NTSB Report: This will be the definitive word on whether it was pilot error, weather (it was foggy and raining), or a catastrophic mechanical failure.
- The Legal Battle: The discovery phase of the lawsuit against Med Jets will likely reveal internal maintenance logs that the public hasn't seen yet.
- Medical Flight Regulations: There is a growing push to tighten the rules for private air ambulances, ensuring they meet the same rigorous standards as commercial airlines.
If you live in the area or were affected by the crash, the City of Philadelphia still maintains a recovery helpline at 215-586-3400. Property damage claims are still being processed through the Red Cross and private insurance, but for many, the "recovery" is less about the houses and more about the fact that a routine Friday night turned into a nightmare in a matter of seconds. Stay tuned to the NTSB's public docket for the release of the factual records, which usually drops a few months before the final cause is determined.