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Learjet Crash in Philadelphia Results in Seven Fatalities and Multiple Injuries

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Above photo: Jan. 31 – First responders survey the scene of a Learjet Crash in Philadelphia, PA.
Philadelphia, PA, Jan. 31 – On January 31, 2025, a Learjet 55 crashed in Northeast Philadelphia shortly following takeoff. The aircraft reached an altitude of only 1600 feet before plummeting to the ground in a steep angle of decent. The airplane was Mexican registered and operated as an air ambulance flight by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance. There were six occupants, including an adolescent female patient and her mother, two medical personnel and two flight crewmembers. There are no survivors. One person on the ground was also killed and nineteen other ground victims suffered injuries.

Radio communication between the air traffic controllers and the flight crew was normal. The tower controller issued a standard takeoff clearance that included an after takeoff heading assignment, which the flight crew acknowledged. Events went terribly awry immediately after takeoff, but there is no radio communication with ATC that sheds light on what happened.

The Learjet 55 had only a limited production run of 147 aircraft with deliveries starting in 1981 and ending in 1987. We should know shortly if the NTSB has determined whether the aircraft of this vintage was equipped or retrofitted with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. Also, it is possible that certain avionics upgrades could provide investigators with recorded data necessary to reconstruct the final moments before the aircraft departed controlled flight.

While it is too soon to assign a cause for this crash, the manner in which the aircraft plummeted to the ground strongly suggests a controllability problem in the pitch axis.

Trained aircraft accident investigators can tell a lot from the manner by which an aircraft departs controlled flight. In this case, the aircraft appears to have lost control in the pitch axis, which would account for the steep nose down dive into the ground. Investigators will likely focus on those components that control the aircraft in the pitch axis such as the aircraft’s elevator tail surface, actuators, and servos.

For example, similar types of accidents have been caused by an elevator trim system experiencing a nose-down electric trim runaway. Unlike several corporate jets of this vintage, the Learjet 55 does not have a manual secondary elevator trim system, but rather employs two electric trim systems, a primary trim system and a backup system. If there is an elevator primary trim system runaway, the pilot must very quickly toggle a switch that shuts down the primary trim system and activate the secondary trim system, which moves at only half the speed of the primary system.

A primary electric trim runaway on takeoff is a challenging emergency for a pilot. As the elevator trim runs uncommanded, the elevator becomes aerodynamically loaded with dynamic pressure, which translates to the pilots’ control yokes as a forceful uncommanded control pitching the nose up or down, depending on the direction of the trim runaway. The aerodynamic loading will overpower both pilots unless the dynamic pressure on the tailplane surface is immediately unloaded, either by regaining trim authority, or reducing engine power and slowing the airplane.

The emergency that led to this crash happened while the airplane was at low altitude, which is a dangerous position for an emergency involving lateral (pitch) axis control problems.

Victims of this accident and their families will have causes of action against any entity determined to be responsible for the crash. If the cause is determined to be a product defect in the airplane, any attorney handling the case must be familiar with The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 and how it potentially can affect the rights of certain classes of plaintiffs. This federal law limits causes of action against manufacturers of aircraft and components that have been in service for more than 18 years. However, this limitation does not extend to persons aboard an aircraft for purposes of obtaining medical treatment or to those persons hurt or killed on the ground while in the proximity of the impact.

Seven people including a child have perished and many other innocent people have been injured as a result of this tragic accident. We extend our heartfelt sorrow and sympathy to the victims and their families.

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