Overview
- A business jet attempting to divert to Laredo after reporting mechanical problems lost contact with controllers and crashed onto Loop 20 near Saunders Street and Clark Boulevard on Tuesday night, striking a moving vehicle and erupting in fire.
- Flight-tracking data and FAA records identify the airplane as a NetJets-operated Cessna Citation Latitude built in 2016 that had departed San José del Cabo bound for Austin before the diversion.
- Six people were on board; one person was killed and five passengers were taken to hospitals for treatment, while at least one motorist was treated and several police officers were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
- Motorists and witnesses broke windows and helped extract survivors before emergency crews arrived, and authorities closed Loop 20 to contain fires, manage a fuel spill and collect evidence at the scene.
- The NTSB will lead the on-site probe with FAA technical support, the FBI is present and NetJets is cooperating; investigators say they will review communications, flight-tracking data and wreckage to determine the cause and any safety implications for business-jet operations.