mall. right next to the store that lists the sign that lists all the stores here. those flames are now picking up. and i have no idea what is burning. it must be some kind of fuel. and i don't know if that's the game plan because now i see a workers look like. >> bret: okay. this is live in philadelphia. this is our fox a23eu8 i can't . it appears a plane crash. we haven't confirmed that yet. you are hearing the reporter steve kealy on the ground fox 29. stay on pictures and breaking news out of northeast philadelphia very close to the northeast philadelphia airport. can you see all of the fire trucks and the authorities on the ground. we are going to stay with this and figure out what is happening in philadelphia. see you monday. "special report." >> in the driveway of the roosevelt mall next to the sign that says macy's l.a. fitness, ross for less. and this must be a gas >> brian: hi, everyone, i'm brian kilmeade in for laura ingraham. what a night we have already.

this is a fox news alert. let's look together. an aircraft reportedly striking a mall. falling from the sky in philadelphia. our affiliate wtxf is on the scene. ring doorbell camera is providing a lot of the footage and then we are going to dip into that and see live footage. let's listen in to the coverage. >> going to try to get that gas line off. in the meantime. probably searching for victims and trying to search each and every house and store there at roosevelt mall to make sure that everybody is okay. and this debris field, steve, we're talking football fields. several football fields. >> this gas line is spitting like a top. like a little tornado. and there is something sticking out of the ground. i don't know if that's a pipe. i'm taking cover. i'm now at the cane's chicken store taking cover behind their doorway. i don't know if they are even open can i go inside. >> there is a raisin cane's there. l.a. fitness, a gym, keep yourself safe, obviously.

we are doing our best to bring viewers live pictures as soon as we can of what we are seeing. what you are seeing right now, folks, is video that steve took on his phone moments ago. still very smoky and tough to breathe there? >> jason, i'm going to get off the phone. >> okay. >> can i feel the heat from this gas fire. >> get out of there. >> get off the phone, get you some new video and get that right to you so we can illustrate to everybody what's going on here right now. >> this is a sight to behold. flames are so big that they're lighting up the scene. that's why i'm able to see the house that was on fire and see the firefighters up on the roof. and boy they are doing a great job. there is hundreds of firefighters here. the gas workers, staying behind. and i guess they must realize that is just gas burning off even though its ignited must knob danger of an explosion here or you would think they would clear everybody out here right now. so many people standing close to that and then i see another smaller fire as i'm looking down cotman avenue which probably is the remnants of whatever that

truck or suv was that's on fire. >> just incredible. >> i will get off the phone and get right back to you. >> absolutely. get yourself safe. steve, thank you very much. let's go back to doorbell camera video that we had from a viewer and on the left side of your screen, you know, i posted this on twitter and the replies i'm getting from everyone is that looks like a missile. that doesn't mean that's what it is. but this angle, just the fireball that then ensues after the crash. if that is a plane that was in serious -- serious downfall at that moment. you know, when you think of some of the planes that fly out of the northeast filly airport there are smaller cessnas and private jets as well. no jumbo jets as you know out of that airport. but just look at the fireball that -- you can see why the debris field is what it is in northeast filly at the roosevelt mall. this happening less than an hour ago right as people are coming home from work. they are shopping right there. it's a friday evening.

they may be going to dinner at this point. there is no word on any injuries. it does not sound good at the moment steve kealy was telling us there are several fires that are being fueled by underground gas lines, perhaps. the debris, again, from a plane and then from hopings and cars that were in the area. several fires burning. and steve having a hard time breathing at points there. but, again, just watching that video that looks like it was a mid-air collision? i don't want to speculate but some kind breakup of a plane at that point? you just don't see planes come down like that in northeast philly very often back to the ground video from steve kealy. there is a dunkin' doughnuts right there. you see fires burning. i don't know if that's a car as we go over the fence here -- i don't know if that is a car or home on fire in this little area. there is several little fires like that burning as firefighters try to get the gas off, try put the fires out.

and try to figure out what's next. that looks like an underground gas fire burning. and as steve mentioned, hundreds of firefighters are on the scene here in northeast philly. we have been getting -- our phone has been ringing off the hook here in our newsroom as people call to tell us what they saw and heard and really out of nowhere just a loud bang and an explosion from there. so, it's really chaos at this moment here in northeast philly. again, cotman and bustleton avenues right along the parkway at roosevelt mall. the bulk of this crash hard to tell where it hit if you are just joining us 6:00 around that time. reports of a small plane crash that happened in this area a lot of people texting me what is

going on? they grew up in this area. their hearts go out to whoever is involved. we are getting multiple calls from people though who heard the explosion, saw it, they felt the ground shake and, you know, as you can see here no surprise that fireball is enough to wake anybody up within a mile or two radius from there. again this is a viewer a half mile i'm assuming and just seeing that fireball right there it's incredible. we are doing our best to get steve back. we are doing our best to get some aviation experts on and try to get a ground picture for you. we are doing the best we can to try to bring you the very latest it is chaos in north filly. i'm doing my best to try to navigate you through this what appears to be just a disaster in northeast philly. i think we had to mute some of the audio from this when that loud bang happens i think the person in the house might have cursed a little bit. can you see what happens right

afterwards. as steve kealy reported earlier, gas lines, houses on fire, firefighters there to put car fires out. parking lot, large debris field that stretches city blocks. again, roosevelt mall is where this happened and so we're just trying our best to tell you what happened here workers are trying to shut off i would imagine, people in homes, possibly in need of medical attention treat this as a mass casualty event. there so dunkin' doughnuts steve kealy raising contains right there next to the roosevelt mall. that mall is outdoor mall parking lot appeared to be empty in some of steve's videos now we

are officially live first live look at the ground from the scene and gives you a glimpse at the response. every cop, every firefighter in the area you can believe is suited up and there. i -- this looks like it is the area -- there is going to be a media staging area i believe at bustleton and cottman. there is still smoke smoldering there from right to left, philadelphia fire on the scene. cops are there as well. and this is going to take quite some time to figure out. first of all, whether anybody in this area needs help. there might be people inside homes that they don't even know about who need medical attention. they are probably going to have to go door to door as soon as they can get this fire out. not only that we learned in d.c. these debris fields they are to preserve them is of utmost importance. right now the priority is saving lives, keeping everybody safe. you know, whether there is another threat of another fire

from an underground gas line, that is something they are going to have to look into as well. based on the body language here, it looks like some of these firefighters and police officers here are trying to get the area cordoned off, media there as well. this is probably as close as we can get, as safe as we can be in this area of northeast philly right outside roosevelt mall there is a strip mall, that dunkin' there. police have told us that's it. this is as close we can get. which is fine. obviously we can't get sky fox up over the scene as well. just due to safety and we are talking about a possible plane crash. but, again, about an hour ago, we have got reports of a plane -- a small plane. this was described as a small plane crashing in the area of roosevelt mall northeast philly, bustleton and cotton after that we ended up getting this doorbell camera that showed the fireball. fires were kind of burning and just various location. cars were on fire.

people felt the shaking like a little earthquake in this area and, you know, the rest you see it the response, the ambulance is here. it's just chaos. steve keeley was on the ground, he says he smelled jet fuel when he got to the scene. he saw what he then later learned were parts of the plane or a plane so he backed away, got out of there and backed up. he wound up at a restaurant there as he was trying to sort through everything. it's just chaos at this moment. that's the only way i can describe it as we try to learn what that was that fell out of the sky. it may have been a plane it. could have been something else. but that doorbell camera makes it look like -- i mean an asteroid. a missile. who knows, a piece of a plane. this was a far away plane. you just never know what we saw. but this is the result of it. we have got major traffic in the area. obviously avoiding the area at all cost.

>> brian: we have been listening to the live coverage of fox 29 in philadelphia. the scene there is still a ton of questions. just unbelievable pictures. it looks like a viewer provided their doorbell camera of a crash in the sky that we believe contained two passengers and it just seemed to edges employed in the area. we are seeing it like you are seeing it. and then fall out it. looks like it fell into a mall area, a roosevelt mall. debris field is large, the size of a football field. if you know the philadelphia area, it's between cotton avenue, right on cotton avenue, possibly hit several other buildings, there is obviously a lot of first responders on the scene. but let's see. they believe the crash happened about 40 minutes ago. so probably still trying to assess the situation. we have an eyewitness now joining us. his name is kyle mazza. is he a freelance recover from. he witnessed the plane crashing himself in philadelphia. kyle, we're watching what you are living. tell us what you know. >> well, whistles traveling to

philadelphia, i noticed the plane go down. there is a lot of flames, obviously, and as i was trying to get to the scene, obviously, the police just put up more cordons around the area. so it's a hard time right now of actually getting to that staging area. obviously it was very intense when i saw it. i was listening to the scanner as well. and i just heard all the units respond to the scene. so that was one of the focus points as well when i was listening to that scanner traffic. i cover crime and stuff like that. so when i had the scanner on, it was just so surreal when it was happening, when it was like that. so i'm literally navigating all around the area right now trying to find a different vantage point. >> brian: of course, be careful. this is your beat. tell me about the roosevelt mall. tell me about this area. it looks like a suburban -- the suburbs of philadelphia.

is it very dense? >> well, obviously there is a lot of it's an open air shopping mall macy's. l.a. fitness. restaurants there and stuff like that. so, yeah, obviously a lot of people a lot of people visit this mall. >> brian: they say multiple buildings are on fire. just in a visual of what you are seeing now, what are you seeing that is in distress? what is who is affected? >> just a lot of flames all over the ground over by bradford street. in the other direction. multiple fireballs everywhere. so that's really the focus point of what i witness. i'm trying to get information on the plane now to see if i can get a tail number to see if i can get any other information

like that. i'm talking to my friends in aviation group we are trying to narrow this down right now and see if we can get any other information steve keeley philadelphia reporter helps us out when he can. at one point he had to duck in to protect himself. he said the fumes seemed to be getting overwhelming, becoming overwhelming. can you tell me where the closest airport is? airplane may have been coming from or to. >> right now it's way too early to tell. initial reports say that the plane came out of morristown municipal airport. right now that's really the only initial information that i'm able to gather. obviously it's all just coming in preliminarily right now. so, it is too early to tell at this point, factual information about where this plane

originated from. but, obviously, i'm talking to my sources and i'm working on trying to get more information about this. >> brian: you know what's interesting and if we can bring back -- i don't know would we isolated the doorbell camera given to local fox affiliate. it seems to have just stopped in mid-air it. seemed to have caught fire in mid-air and just almost went into exploded. is that what you witnessed? >> i didn't witness the actual incident of what had happened. i only noticed it on the ground. i was about 20, 25 minutes away from when this initial call came out on the scanner. once i arrived on the scene, that's when i saw all the flames, the smoke, and just that smell of the fumes. the crux of what i witnessed. and then when police just started putting up all the cordons, that's why i couldn't

get out the way i do. steve is wonderful and great at getting that stuff out. but i'm just trying to find another vantage point, another location and just trying to nail myself down there right now. >> brian: looks like the whole -- the accident happened, the explosion took place between 6 and 6:30. we know two people were on board according to fox 29 and now this news just in. at least six people are known to be dead, whether they got died on the ground from debris that fell from the sky. we are not sure, obviously. it doesn't seem as though the plane hit anything, unlike what we witnessed over in washington. they are still trying to figure out. but now we have this incident. and nothing but questions. but, certainly it's anything but settle -- will things are anything but under control because you see these fires burning everywhere. kyle, you are on the ground. if you get any more information, if you get closer, of course, be safe. but please let our producers know and come back on the air. meanwhile, joining us to help

put this in perspective from what we know are two experts brian handers a former helicopter pilot. he was going to be talking about what is happening by reagan airport along with don a retired colonel u.s. air force expert on unaircraft systems. what's your reaction to the news and as you see the video we saw from the ring doorbell to the live footage, what are your thoughts? >> oh, brian, it's absolutely terrible, to come on the wake of what we all witnessed in washington, d.c. and now this, i mean we take air travel safety really for granted in this country. so many people have grown accustomed to hopping on their flight and commuting to and from work and to and from loved ones we don't think twice about it. when events like this occur we are reminded it is a feat that we fly through the air every day and we trust that those around us, whether it's air traffic control or the engineers who design the airplane and maintain the airplane are doing so in a safe pattern. so, you know, we have to learn

more what happened here. looks like another tragedy unfolding before us. >> brian: yeah. right now steve keeley who is the voice of the reporter that you saw on the scene that had to duck away because of what he thought was toxic fumes i'm sure it was. he said six people were on the plane that took off from northeast philadelphia airport. sources tell steve that there were two doctors, two pilots, one patient and one family member. no update on the victims on the ground. so that's what we know. six people aboard. i don't know if you had a chance to see -- to see the actual explosion itself. because the ring doorbell camera was let out. but what could you tell us about the explosion mid-air? it doesn't seem to be a dissension it. seemed to be an explosion. >> it really does. it seems like we -- it's something catastrophic occurred in flight and it came down whether wing separating. airplanes even when they are in

a power failure have the ability to glide. air moving over the wing and airplane can descend at normal rate relatively speaking with an engine failure. what looked like we saw in the ring doorbell cam was not that. that was catastrophic failure of some kind. >> brian: so, dawn, when you were serving as an air force colonel, i know you are used to explosive situations, we're looking at that ring doorbell camera now from a viewer. what are your thoughts from what have you seen? have you seen anything like this before? does it remind you of anything that you might have interacted with? >> i will tell you what, brian, this is kind of personal to me, actually grew up a couple blocks from where this happened. i used to go to the roosevelt mall all the time. so, this is wild. it's not been a good couple days for aviation. so, you know, my heart goes out to the six souls on board who, as you said, are no longer with us. my heart goes out to the 67

folks that perished, you know, in the last couple days in the d.c. area. yeah. some work needs to be done. >> brian: so, when you see that footage that happened in mid-air, you as a pilot, before we talk about what you know about the area, going to the mall, that looks like it was part of the debris field, so it was hit. what do you see when you see that explosion in mid-air? >> well, just to be clear, i'm actually not a pilot. i flew a desk when i was in the air force. i am a licensed uncrude aircraft pilot. so, i'm going to punt that one be over to brandt, who is actually an army helicopter pilot to handle that one. >> brian: you are right. go ahead. >> oh, no, brian. i was just going to say an explosion like this is really significant. it actually leads me to think that it was a larger aircraft. >> just when you see flames of this nature. this is not some little cessna.

and especially if it's traveling, you know, with medical patients on board. probably a jet of some kind. obviously we need to learn a lot more details about this airplane and what went into it. obviously what caused it. but there are significant standards that are put on these aircraft, air worthiness standards that we have to understand what went wrong and reassure frankly the american people that air travel is still safe and you can see why some would question that after the last couple of days. >> brian: two doctors, two pilots and one patient. medical situation if one of those flights a lot of times pilots dedicate time and energy to help people in distress to get them to specialized hospitals. i got to ask you, dawn, could you tell me what the area is like on the ground and the fact that six people we know according to fox 29 have lost their lives? we know the debris field is large. we know the mall has been hit. tell me what it is like on the ground on a sunny day?

what is it -- how dense -- how close are the houses? how dense are the properties? >> yeah, it's it a very dense area. i mean, i heard one of your colleagues mention row houses for sure. there are several schools in the area walkable, you know, the mall itself is pretty large, open air mall as was referenced. so, this is a pretty significant area. also talked about roosevelt boulevard. i mean, this is a highly trafficked roadway. so, if that's what we're talking about here, there would be, i would assume, a lot of people in that area. and i also heard houses were on fire. so, yeah, i would think there would be some as you said hundreds of firefighters in that area response tells you right there. there is going to be significant things happening on the ground. and you know what brandt, people worried about traveling right

now should we really be concerned? >> i know i know, brian, i was hoping the events we saw in d.c. would be lessons we'll learned from it and move on. now this coming on its heels, it could spook the american people and i think that's going to be incumbent upon newly confirmed secretary duffy and the president to reassure the american people that it's still safe to travel and what steps can be taken and what are the action plans we can learn from incidents to ensure they don't happen again, that the military is able to train safely that american people can travel, take commercial flights without fear, people can move and move about the country as they need to for their jobs. i think that's really is where president trump is in office now. need leadership at a moment like this to reassure the american people. >> brian: hey, brandt, why don't you hold on and dawn, hold on. stay there we are going to dip into the press conference to get

more information from people on the ground with wtxf. >> of fuel and with this possibly being a medical flight what kind of equipment does a medical flight carry? oxygen tanks? things that could explode? that's kind of my question a great question and depend. medical plane? was this a rotary wing airport like ie helicopter or fixed wing aircraft? they do carry oxygen. i would be curious what kind of smell that the bystanders are smelling. more sophisticated stuff burns jet fuel. sophisticated helicopters, medevac helicopters that you see they burn jet fuel. bigger airplanes, medevac airplanes. people used to fly medevac lehrer jets private jet that

people can use for medevac. those are the kind of airplanes that fly out of northeast philly. a lot of medevac flights go in and out of there because it's easy for a lot of -- getting in national difficult on the general aviation side not impossible but a lot more difficult whereas northeast philly you gas and go. >> stay with us, fred, as we try to recap what exactly is going on and we are showing you new video. about an hour and a half ago reports of a small plane crashing in northeast philly right around the roosevelt mall area, several fires burning and, dawn, you had mentioned the amount of people on that plane? >> right, we were told from top police officials steve keeley telling us there were six people on the plane. two doctors, two pilots, a patient and a family member. so that is the presumption that it was some kind of medical transport governor josh shapiro just making a statement on x

saying, quote: i have spoken with the philadelphia mayor and my team is in communication with philadelphia police, with the philadelphia office of emergency management and the philadelphia fire department, we are offering all commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in northeast philly. we will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. so, governor josh shapiro, has been briefed on what is happening, offering all resources to the philadelphia area as police, fire, and e.m.s. try to get a handle on this very chaotic scene. but, again, as steve first reported, it seems like this was medical transport flight with patients and doctors and pilots on board crashing into the streets of philadelphia. >> looking into where that plane was headed and obviously a while before we find out who was on that plane.

but, fred t.c. joins us a former navy pilot and, fred, you just joined us to talk about that mid-air collision in d.c. and now here we are talking about this in northeast philly. when you are talking about six people and medical-type flight, possibly a lehrer jet 55, you know, you had mentioned the importance of de- de-icing obviy northeast philadelphia airport that's all part of the preflight process, correct? >> it would be, okay so, a couple things. interesting how fluid this kind of stuff is. so we now know that the aircraft was departing northeast philly, it means that tells me it would have been full of fuel and that's why you are seeing an accident on the ground. seeing witnesses on the ground saying thaltd airplane was full of fuel. you know, could it be a lear

that would be consistent with the airplane. could have been a king air. turbo prop it. could have been any one of a dozen airplanes. i could rattle off dozens of airplanes that it could be. to answer your question, you know, you cannot take off with ice on the wings. now, as i said earlier, the ground temperatures 10 degrees roughly close to 50's. so, being ice on the ground take off that's not going to be an issue. the question is whether or not that aircraft, how long has it been since it took off? did it climb into icy conditions? depending on the type of aircraft it is, the first thing do you when you get into ice owe-let's say it is a light jet. you just keep going. because sooner or later you get where the air so so cold: twin engine unpressured rised airplane. used medical transports. powered airplanes.

that's a whole different kind of kettle of fish. so, that's a million different things that go into this. i just can't keep getting away from the way the airplane came down, which -- this tells me that one of two things, it could have been a structural issue. airplanes don't come down that fast. they just don't. you know, unless, you know, unless there has been a structural issue. >> what kind of structural issue would you think it could possibly be? what could would he be looking at? >> well, believe it or not, people don't realize is that the pilot can -- 747 or the sma smallest -- pull the wings off of an airplane. >> brian: bring it back here. listening to local coverage in philadelphia why wouldn't we the local fox affiliate all over this since the crash. you saw a plane just be blown up in the sky aspect lated you

would think they were just leaving northeast philadelphia airport. therefore logic would tell you was fuel of fuel. we know sadly six people dead two doctors, two pilots, the patient and family member. it looks like somewhat of a medical flight. they speculate it's a learjet. officials are wearing. in governor shapiro coming out saying i have been in touch with local officials. giving all the resources possible. firefighters on the ground. sean duffy says he is monitoring the situation. you know he's the brand new transportation secretary. and what a couple of days he has had. let's bring in scott pattillo, on our air quite often because of the crash a couple days ago right outside reagan airport. commercial airline pilot. this is a smaller jet than you are used to flying. what you see from the explosion and the debris field look to be about 100 yards long what do you see, scott, what can you conclude? >> you know what? it's honestly i hate to say

this, but it's way, way too early it. could be a number of things. i would rule out ice right now, based on the current weather temperature. low ceilings are definitely a factor. hazardous material and all the different medical supplies that they have. but right now it's just absolutely impossible to tell. if eyewitnesses say it exploded. [broken audio] >> brian: scott you are going in and out with your audio. let's try it again. scott, can we hear you? >> yeah. i can hear you fine. >> brian: okay. great. now i can hear you, good. so you were saying i know it's tough to speculate but from your years of experience, we know if this is a medevac flight from a smaller airport and it just left, just a few miles away from northeast philly and explodes, it seems to be it doesn't glide down there is no explosion, you just see the thing incinerate.

does that lead you to wonder -- conclude anything? >> my first concludes would be taking off at night in weather based on the experience of the crew a spatial disorientation. very disorienting to take off at night from alighted runway and a second or two later you are going into the weather transitioning to total aircraft instruments. and if you are not used to that and not experienced enough that can create a problem. create spatial issues for the pilot and then he can, in fact, diving down into the ground trying to get his head straight. i don't want to speculate at all weather was fine. >> brian: i will give you some more information. let's -- we just got some more information. in let's go over together. we have a statement from the faa. it says a learjet 55 crashed around 6:30 local time. that's eastern, departing from northeast fizzle airport. there were two people on board. we knew that. the plane was in route to

springfield, branson national airport in missouri. the faa and ntsb will investigate. the ntsb will lead the investigation and will provide all updates. we also know that the transportation secretary sean duffy and governor shapiro have also weighed in. they are on the ground and engaged. we heard from a local reporter and is he a great one steve keeley that up to six people are dead. we got a little bit more detail. the original report always err on the side of caution says two. two pilots that's what they know of for sure. but the fact that the learjet and the type of jet we now know, what do you know about a learjet? have you flown one? >> i have ridden in them i have not flown a learjet. it is a challenging airplane to fly with the size of the wing it has very, very capable airplane. but if you look at the safety history of the learjet, depending on the age, some of the older lehrer jets can be a little more problematic. so experience of the crew is going to be a big factor and

just pray that the fatalities were not on the ground. that's just more, more tragic right there. >> brian: i'm looking online don't have rights to the video yet. looking online can you see a lot of debris nearby fast food places. you see them on top of the mall. you see in the middle you have the street. keep in mind fizzle is jubilant after their eagles go back to the super bowl. we saw a lot of celebration in the streets. we saw a lot of happiness for preparations to go new orleans. this will really sober you up. real life has now snuck back in as we see this explosion in mid-air. also with these lehrer jets, a lot of times people, you know this, scott, as a pilot, they will donate their time and energy for medical flights do something in the last lap of life. that's what a lot of medevac situations are. a lot of times the learjet is

donated paid for by others. philanthropists for situations like that. we don't know the circumstances. we know a family member was on board according to the original local report as well as the patient, two doctors and two pilots. scott, does this go in the back of your mind now? even an experienced pilot like you. we have two incidents in three days in areas that we just aren't expecting it to happen? this isn't iraq. >> yeah. so, so true. first and foremost, i would let you know continue to have faith in the aviation system. between the controllers and the pilots crews that maintain the airplanes it is still second to none and the absolute safest way you can travel in this country and the world. no, no better safer way to travel. the public has just got realize that the system has been stressed. northeast philly is a beautiful airport. i have been in and out of there many times. if this is an angel flight, oh

my gosh, even more tragic because there is somebody that donated the aircraft and the time. i don't even want to speculate about the crew or about what may have happened. we will find out in the coming days and then ntsb will get involved and obviously do a thorough investigation. but at this point, i just want the public to realize that the pilots flying these airplanes, especially if they're old guys like me, you can tell by the hair and wrinkles on their face. they be old guys have a lot of experience and they have been through all of this. i don't want to speculate if it was pilot error or mechanical error or weather involved at this point. it would be irresponsible. it's just way, way too early. keep faith in the system. it's a darn good system. and the professionals that work to maintain and to travel and the flight people every day are the absolute best in the world. second to none i would state my life and family's life on it every time i get in an airplane. i would not be concerned.

we obviously need to find out the root cause of this as well as what happened at reagan and fix those problems but we will. >> if you see some video, if you see something you can relate to our viewers about experienced an explosion around 6:30. a plane just exploded in the sky, fall down in suburban areas of northeast philly. we see one major outdoor mall area rotes vet mall area. >> just extraordinary i want to dip in right now to trace gallagher fox news chief breaking news correspondent fox news anchor fox news at night. trace, it's amazing. we are going through this again we have steve keeley we know contributed to us on fox news channel all the time when things happen in philadelphia go to

this guy. he is the one who said six people are dead. the official word is two are dead. we know sean duffy is now at faa headquarters. >> yeah. i mean and you go through this, sean, sorry, brian, and what happens is you always kind of alleviate things, right? you eliminate things and at first the initial report from the faa is that there is two people and talking about both pilots. the top of this statement says this information is preliminary and subject to change now of course we are hearing from those on the ground using their sources saying six people on board including two doctors, two pilots a patient and family member. airplane a learjet 5 and just for some context, brian, the learjet 55 is a very well-known plane if this was a medical flight, it's a very often used plane for medical flights. and so people know we are talking about a jet that is

55 feet long and 43 feet wide. when you hear reports that say this was a small plane, i mean, relatively so, it is a small plane but that's also a decent size plane. so it kind of gives you perspective what people are looking at in the sky saying it's a small plane. we have done the same thing in the past up can pell of days when they said they talked about the miracle on the hudson when you that u.s. airways flight handing on the hudson and people on the side of the river says it looks like a small plane. this appears to be -- in fact it is a learjet 55, the interesting thing about this is the explosion on the ground, brian, had you this massive explosion from this plane and it's an indicator that maybe this medical trip, if it was that was going some distance because this is a plane that can carry roughly 1400 pounds of fuel. that's a good amount of fuel depending how far this plane was going. the learjet 55 has a range of

about 22, 2300 miles. if it was fully fueled up that would explain the large explosion on the ground. the number of people, we're still waiting for our sources to confirm. the faa now says it's two. others say it's more. we will get more information as it comes. in we should also point out when you talk about the roosevelt mall, it's an outdoor mall for the most part. and it has stores. i think the anchors are now macy's and a ross dress for less. you have surrounding restaurants like raising cane and others. but for the most part it's an outdoor mall with a very substantial parking lot. which is why when the reports came in earlier that a number of cars were on fire makes sense. then you had reports that homes were on fire. if you look at the google maps and the area around here there are homes around this small: did it hit parts of the small? did it hit the surrounding homes? did it hit the parking lot and then the second question would

be if it did come close or hit the mall, how many people were in the mall and it was in the evening for philadelphia but not as high traffic but still a time when there could be a lot of people in the mall. we have heard not one word about any injuries on the ground. any fatalities on the ground, not a single word. so, as you process the information on breaking news that comes in, you know northeast most of the stuff that comes in initially is going to be if not wrong, it's going to be riddled with a fewerrers in there and you learn more as you go along. but as you learn more about the airplane itself, brian, the learjet 55, it makes sense that when it crashed and we do not know why it crashed but it makes sense when it crashed fully loaded with fuel. it would be -- its own version of a significant size bomb,

brian. >> brian: trace, yeah. they did say it left the airport so they do think it was fully loaded: if you know the area it's cottman evil and bustleton avenue. eyewitnesses say there are multiple cars on fire and eyewitnesses say they heard it sounded like a clap of thunder and then when you see the ring doorbell footage almost like a bomb happened overhead there was no gliding down of a plane that we could see into the ground trace stick with us joining us is mike pearson. avenue yeation attorney, law professor and air traffic controller, the impacted not yeten in, concluded so far by the coverage. this accident they say speculated happened between 6 o 20 and 6:30? >> what the folks back there the actual air traffic controllers are telling me is this was a flight, it was a medicine jet 56. wall the call-at this it was a

lehrer 55. it was in route from p and e. northeast phil to springfield missouri it. doesn't look like it was an arrival and, of course, i can't see and i have looked at the data tracks yet. could tell if i had that info but i don't have it yet. the flight plan at least shows that it was departing from p and e in route to missouri. again, springfield, missouri, and it was a vac flight, a medical flight. again, i have not looked -- i could tell you probably more. i can tell you that the airport it departed from is faa controlled airport. philadelphia airport. the major airport. air traffic. its instrument flight rules. that type of aircraft of course would have been on one. unless it was a very short hop.

and that will tell you a lot of information, basic information. but they would have definitely been in contact with air traffic control both at the airport p and e and the controller which would have been operating out of the philadelphia airport the main airport. the philadelphia control. so, it's hard to conclude anything, obviously, and this is a case that probable cause is probably going to take a while to determine. >> brian: well, mike, let me just ask you about the aircraft in particular. aviation attorney. do you find you have a lot of litigation with this airplane? does it have a history that you know of that has crossed your desk before? >> no learjet controller and 30 years of practicing law has been a remarkably stable and safe aircraft.

>> brian: good to know. northeast philadelphia plane, it's right near the mall. a lot of the debris is it's pretty amazing, too. because, trace, the weather was frigid a week ago when we were at the inaugural. and the people were not outside if they didn't have to be. but the weather in the northeast kind of broke a little bit. 40 feels like 60, feels like 70. these people might be saying to themselves it's friday night. i'm going outside to the outdoor mall. what could go wrong? it's 6:00. it just got dark. so it makes me worry that there might be more people than usual on a street in philadelphia in january. >> yeah. it's tremendous true. and i'm wondering, brian, if mike is still available because we have some new information coming in. and it -- you know, it kind of bears on the flight itself. if he is in, if he is listening in, if not then i just want to read this to you. >> brian: he is. >> trace: gives an indication, mike, the flight data showed a small jet taking off from the

airport 6:06 p.m. disappearing from radar about 30 seconds later after climbing to altitude of 1600 feet. you have a learjet taking off and literally 30 seconds later something catastrophically goes wrong. it's unusual, mike, you look at these types of planes. there is no indication that weather played a factor in this at all. and when you are getting to 30 seconds, you are still kind of getting things buckled up. you are bringing flaps up. you are doing things. it seems to me like this is highly unusual. and it's symptomatic of maybe something on board happening. what is your take away of this, mike? >> well, there is a couple causes and actually multiple causes that either has to be pilot error. human factor error i doubt it was. if what you are telling me and again i'm operating on very limited data here. pilot error. looks like standard departure route. climbing normally. i doubt it was pilot error.

then you have to look at mechanical issues. also look to see did it ingest anything in the engines ie birds. if there is an explosion although sometimes there will be indications on film, it could have hit something besides birds. you don't know. it's very early. i think you can probably at this stage early on, without doing any analysis of data. everything is speculation now. and, you know, everyone says that but it is true: very unusual it's a safe aircraft. unless there was something mechanically wrong with the airplane, which i don't know. i haven't looked at the maintenance records and the history of it. >> brian: michael, one thing that comes to mind is, when a plane falls out of a sky you might say what is going on with the pilot when it explodes in mid-air you think what is going on with the craft. meanwhile, we have a witness on the scene who gave this quote out to local abc.

it was earthquakish. it was just horrific, i was riding down the street coming to a wendy's and i just saw a plane basically hit the building and it exploded. the sky -- the sky lit up and we saw that. we saw the explosion on camera. so, if i asked you to break down a scene from what we know, is there anything this reminds you of things that you might have studied before? >> well, can i tell you that doesn't indicate a bird strike or ingesting anything in the engines, okay? it doesn't -- that's not a normal happening. i will also tell you and this being very straightforward, witness statements sometimes are not perfect. and the -- when i did some of the accident investigation work for the transportation safety institute the faa's traffic investigation school, witness interviews are not always perfectly reliable, but the loud

explosion and i haven't seen the video so i'm kin kind of a litte bit disadvantage, guys that, syndication of a catastrophic mechanical issue or hitting something or an explosion obviously of some sort. who knows where it comes from. >> brian: people at home michael, let me stop you there. people at home are seeing this. it's on full display now. local fox affiliate is showing it. it's from a ring doorbell camera. given almost immediately between 6:30 and 7:00. the explosion happened between 6:20 and 6:30. this was available. so you actually see the explosion now full screen. and if we can and trace is still with us and mike stick around. scott brenner is here, former spokesperson for the faa. scott, you are usually out front and center when things go wrong and looks like something has gone wrong in northeast philadelphia. what can you tell us? >> yeah. i mean, that video is pretty

horrific. as your previous guest was saying. clearly it looks like something mechanically, some catastrophic failure in that aircraft. i mean, it took off it. went 30 seconds and then had something major happen to this. this was hit that neighborhood with the amount of fuel that had had on board, probably i was going to say these aircraft, as far as i know don't have flight data recorders in them. it's going to be a little more challenging to figure out what was going on. they will probably be some conversations with air traffic. normally when a pilot gets into trouble like that that quickly, the first thing they are taught is to aviate. navigate and then communicate. so there may not be any communication with air traffic other than, you know, clearance to go and then kind of giving the flight level.

>> brian: they did have two pilots on board. a lot of times they don't fly private flights with two pilots. trace, more breaking news you want to share with us? >> trace: cbs reporting that there are several injuries reported on the ground. this is the first we have heard of this. we have speculated that there were, in fact, people were -- eyewitnesses saying there were cars on fire and there were homes around there on fire. well now we are being told for the first time that there are, in fact, several injuries reported on the ground. multiple homes on fire in the area of cottman avenue and roosevelt boulevard. they are saying that when you talk about the roosevelt mall here, this plane actually hit in an intersection near the mall not actually on the mall, which is about the only good news unless there was traffic in the area. but, there's a number of row homes, they are saying, and a number of those homes, kind of residential neighborhoods that are packed with these row homes, and a number of these row homes, at least were on fire. it's unclear right now if they

have put those fires out. but a number of them did burn. and it's interesting, brian, when you talk about the type of jet here and the possibilities that go along with this, it is a med jet. it's unclear how it was configured. was this thing configured to hold stretchers? was it configured to hold just passengers did they have oxygen on board? was it something that happened with medical equipment on board? that's one of the things that investigators will look at in this and how this plane was configured because 30 seconds in, and then having something catastrophic happen is, as mike was saying earlier, highly unusual. >> brian: trace, good pointed. new information on the ground so it didn't hit the mall. we know the president of the united states is going to mar-a-lago, where he is going to continue to work. he made that clear before he left. he has just landed and he did not comment but i know he was watching on the plane. did he not comment on the crash

in northeast philadelphia. i'm just wondering, scott brenner, as a former spokesperson for the faa. so many resources now trying to unwind the black hawk crash into the american airliner outside reagan. they are going -- they have to split off now and start putting resources into this crash? >> no. what you will see is because of the fatalities, ntsb, national transportation safety board they will launch a go team to go start collecting evidence, start doing interviews, start trying to figure out exactly what happened. yes, you are using a lot of resources for the washington crash, but they do have the folks available to do another go team to take a look at something like this. obviously the faa will be involved. faa investigates every ga. every commercial crash and clearly this one they will. the ntsb will definitely be involved and will launch an investigation on this. >> brian: all right. face fascinating information that they don't have -- they

don't have a flight recorder on that. you know, so, we're not going to -- we're not going to find out -- we're looking to see the transmission and the communication but we'll have to see where we go in terms of the investigation so we're trying to see what happened on the ground. we do have a report that's not been confirmed from steve keeley about six people were killed. we do have fatalities we believe on the ground. two doctors, two pilots, one patient, one family member were taken off. some have speculated being that the type of flight it was and the type of plane it was being that it's leaving from a smaller airport northeast philadelphia that this was somewhat of a medicine medevac flight. and we will see what happens. meanwhile, there's a witness on the ground that is now talking locally. so let's listen to wtxf. >> also aviation expert and he was saying that angle, jason, the fact that it came down at that angle and it came down so -- >> if you look over there right now, i'm coming out of the gym, you see cars that wasn't even close to the plane.

caught fire. they are completely done. you can't -- i showed you the pictures. it's messed up, man. houses on fire. they are trying to put it out there. you see kids running out. it's not right, man. i don't know if it was purposefully done or not. but, what i do know, man,. >> see all this activity we're working to learn more about, who was hurt and how many people. just to know this is happening so close to home in your community. >> i live right there. >> to know this is happening in your own backyard, i mean, how are you feeling right now? >> to be honest, i don't think nobody is safe. i think everybody needs to protect theirselves by any means possible. like what can we do? >> what can we do? it's happening now. what can we do? we have no control over that can't nobody expect that? you can't see that coming. i go to the gym to relieve stress. and you hear boom and you see everything. you see the plane getting lower and lower lower.

and yesterday was a plane. man, what's going on? what's going on? >> tragic for sure. thank you so much for speaking with us and i'm sorry that you had to see all of that happen right in front of your eyes. >> brian: so as you see on the ground an eyewitness that actually shakes you to the core and you see this thing in the movies. you see documentaries but you don't expect to see it hit your house or right in your neighborhood. mike pierson is still with us, aviation attorney and trace gallagher also helping us out, breaking news anchor getting set to take over in a few hours his show. trace, we also have jon scott standing by but you have gotten additional information. >> trace: and i think john and mike might be very interested in this because this is coming from a fox 29 philadelphia reporter, they are talking about the pieces of the aircraft and going on to say that philly police are telling him outlines of the mcdonald's on cottman avenue, roosevelt boulevard, which is right there near the roosevelt mall that there were pieces everywhere, right? and assuming that he means piece of the plane. but the fascinating part of this is that a medical oxygen tank

was apparently found from the jet because it has med jet or jet rescue written on the oxygen tank found about a quarter of a mile away from the actual wreckage of the airplane, which we were talking earlier about how this jet might be configured as a medical flight transport. and does it have -- is it loaded with oxygen tanks? because that's one of the things investigators will look at and the very fact that they found an oxygen tank about a quarter of a mile away from the wreckage is very interesting, if nothing else, brian. >> brian: jet rescue, i'm just looking at it. that's the name of the flight. it's an air ambulance. jet rescue air ambulance and it says there is a division in miami. so we will see if that is part of a fleet that they might have doing great work trying to keep people alive. so, jon scott, we know you are a

licensed pilot, aviation expert. we are trying to piece this together from what we know from the footage that we have. what do you see when you hear about a learjet falling from the sky and by the way, jon, take this in with us while you comment. this is new dash cam video as the explosion and the plane hits the ground in the road. >> jon: it is absolutely stunning that all of the transpired in, you know, 60 seconds or less. the plane takes off from north philadelphia and then comes down almost like a rocket at about a 90-degree angle. you can see that in the footage. with two pilots on board, one wouldn't think that pilot incapacitation is the problem. i mean, that has happened before, planes take off and pilot has a heart attack. >> brian: sure. >> jon: comes back to earth. one wouldn't think that would happen with two pilots on board. there had to be some kind of a catastrophic failure of some aircraft system.

but, as bad as the explosion was, it seems like it's going to be difficult, if not impossible for the ntsb to figure out exactly what went wrong. >> brian: yeah, i mean, we have so much footage so quickly from pedestrian sources because we have so many still cameras. people with the dash cam camera. people with their ring doorbell camera, able to see what happened. and then you look at this and you see how rattled, trace, that eyewitness was, saying i go to the gym to release some stress. sigh what happened the other day, and i look up and i live over there and then this happens. and knowing the loss of human life and certainly the altar of human life that took place at 6:30 this evening. >> trace: yeah, did really is one of the things especially in the wake of what just happened a couple nights ago, right, brian? you have this nation that is very jumpy to begin with. and so, when you see something like this, and you see something

coming out of the sky and then it leads to this fireball, yeah, you can imagine it is going to rattle a lot of nerves. not just in philadelphia, but around the country about what in the world is going on with aviation? i mean, if you look at this thing separate from what happened at reagan national or just approaching reagan national a couple of nights ago, this appears to be kind of this sole incident where it happened, you know, it was kind of incapsulated on board on this plane, whatever happened, whatever went wrong, and it's, you know, it is totally separate and different from d.c. >> brian: trace, we'll see you in a couple hours. going to hand off to jesse watters. looking at the plane explosion right here in northeast, philadelphia. jesse will take it the rest of the way. we're still trying to unwind this. keep it here on fox for the latest on the philly plane crash. jesse. ♪