A medical transport jet carrying a child patient, her mother and four others slammed into a Philadelphia neighborhood and exploded in flames.
The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transported home to Mexico, according to Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the plane’s operator. The flight’s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri. All six people aboard were from Mexico.
The plane crashed Friday 30 seconds after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
Here’s what to know about air medical transport:
What is an air ambulance?
An air ambulance provides transportation to people in critical or life-threatening situations when a ground ambulance can’t reach a patient or wouldn’t get to them fast enough.
They help boost a patient’s odds of surviving and recovering, particularly in rural areas that don’t have trauma or burn centers, according to a 2017 U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
They’ve grown in importance as more rural hospitals have …