Philadelphia plane crash: NTSB searches for cockpit voice recorder, seeks debris reports
Accident investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have yet to find the cockpit voice recorder from the Medevac jet that crashed Friday night in Philadelphia, killing at least 7 people and injuring at least 19.
The jet, which had arrived Friday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. from Opa-locka, Florida, departed the Northeast Philadelphia Airport at about 6:06 p.m. ET. The Learjet 55 was bound for Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.
It took "a slight right turn, followed by a slight left turn and then a steep descent," leading to its crash, NTSB investigator Ralph Hicks said in a press briefing Saturday.
"This was a high-impact crash and the plane is highly fragmented, NTSB chairman Jennifer Homendy said at the briefing.
As a result,there is a lot of debris, much of which investigators are looking to collect. The collection effort could take weeks, Homendy said.
Investigators searching for missing cockpit voice recorder
While investigators have found the plane's two engines, they have yet to find the voice recorder. She urged anyone who found debris to email the NTSB (witness@ntsb.gov).
About the cockpit recorder, which may not be intact, Homendy said, "hopefully, once we can find it … we can take that back to our lab and evaluate it."
Finding the recorder is "critical, so we can hear what's happening in the cockpit," she said. "However, it doesn't mean that we can't continue our investigation and complete it (without the voice recorder). We can. It's just a piece of our investigation that gives us more information."
She also mentioned the recorder, often referred to as a black box, is actually orange. "So it's an organg box, but it could be damaged and might not be orange. So, it could be in pieces."
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