Philly PA mall hit from the air

[Droning on and on...]

By... something. Default assumption is a small plane, and that probably is it.

However, two things that are odd, and ask for explanation: The steep angle and speed the object came down out of the sky as it emerged below the cloud deck, looking about 1000' AGL, looked a helluva lot like a missile, not a plane. A plane with intact wings and even just one functional aileron can maneuver (very badly), and would be flying at a much shallower angle as the pilot tried to live.

Second, the explosion. It was titanic, throwing debris over an area covering about a dozen American football fields, igniting a house several blocks away, a minivan off site, and an unusually bright, huge fireball.

Again, all of this could just be a 152 pilot having a heart attack in flight. But there's some extraordinary aspects to this crash.

 

[Rchawks]

Thanks, I never get on the news..

 

[Droning on and on...]

A reporter that claims to be an eye witness is being interviewed on the news right now, says it was a plane.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Latest: It was a medivac flight, 6 on board, patient, 2 doctors, family member, pilots.

What could have happen to cause it to dive out of the sky like a missile?

Possible oxygen tanks on board could combine with fuel to cause a pretty big explosion.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Learjet 55.

 

[Cafguy]

There are about a hundred things that would cause this tragedy. To answer this at the moment would be speculating.
Maybe they lost an engine? Maybe the parameters were placed in the Garmin incorrectly? Maybe no takeoff checklist was performed? Maybe the controller wasn't a white male?
I myself will wait for the Professionals at the NTSB to tell me.

 

[Torque]

The news says the plane was only in the air about 40 seconds, "a catastrophic event on take off."

 

[hank970]

Until someone repeals the law of gravity, flying will remain an inherently hazardous activity. Considering how many flights there are, it's to the credit of aircraft manufacturers, pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and a host of others that such accidents are blessedly rare.