Philadelphia crash investigation reveals black box not recording audio for years

As part of its investigation into a deadly plane crash in Philidelphia, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) failed to record the accident flight and had likely not been logging audio for years. 

Details on the crash were announced on March 6, 2025, with the publication of the NTSB’s preliminary report which set out the agency’s early findings into the Learjet 55 ambulance aircraft crash in January 2025 that resulted in the deaths of seven people.  

The report said that the aircraft, registered XA-UCI, was flying for around one minute when it crashed on a street in Philidelphia, and that the flight crew was in communication with air traffic control at the time of the accident. 

“There were no distress calls received from the flight crew,” the NTSB said. 

Shortly after 18:00 on January 31, 2025, the aircraft left Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE) for Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF) and was scheduled to fly on to Mexico. 

Thank you to the hundreds of firefighters & first responders on the ground in my district ensuring the safety of Northeast Philadelphia. Our city is one of heroes who run toward danger. I’ve been on the ground monitoring. My office is open over the weekend to help those impacted. pic.twitter.com/xLWs34ukXt— Jared Solomon (@JaredGSolomon) February 1, 2025 Onboard were two pilots, two medical crew members and two passengers, one of them a young girl who had been released from Shriners Children’s Hospital following treatment.    

For reasons as yet unknown, the aircraft impacted a concrete sidewalk in a residential and commercial area, killing all those onboard the flight and one victim on the ground.  

The NTSB said that the crash resulted in a large explosion and a wreckage debris field about 1,410 ft in length. 

King Hui / Flickr.com“The wreckage was highly fragmented. Wreckage and debris penetrated numerous homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles in the area, resulting in extensive fire and impact damage,” the NTSB report states. 

Data from the aircraft’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) has been sent for evaluation and is still under investigation. 

In February 2025, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance named Valentina Guzman Murillo as the child patient and the mother as Lizeth Murillo Ozuna.   

The other victims on the plane have been identified as Captain Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales, Copilot Josue de Jesus Juarez, Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo and Paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla.   

A full report into the aircraft crash will be published in around 12 to 24 months,

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