Jenni Rivera plane crash

9 December 2012; Starwood Management Learjet 25; N345MC; near Iturbide, Mexico: The aircraft carrying singer Jenni Rivera, four members of her entourage, and two pilots, took off from Monterrey, Mexico on a domestic flight to an airport in Toluca, near Mexico City. At about seven minutes after takeoff, when the aircraft was cruising at about 28,000 feet, the aircraft went into a steep, high speed dive and crashed in mountainous terrain approximately 70 miles from Monterrey near the town of Iturbide. Both pilots and all five passengers were killed.

Jenni Rivera had performed a concert at the Monterrey on the evening of December 8th, and the chartered aircraft was taking Rivera to Mexico City where she was scheduled to appear on a television show. Prior to the crash, the crew did not transmit any kind of emergency message or distress signal.

Accident Investigation
Because the crash occurred in Mexico, by long-standing international agreements, the accident investigation was the responsibility of the Mexican civil aviation authorities, specifically the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil of Mexico (DGAC). Because the aircraft was manufactured in the US, those same agreements allowed US representatives, specifically the NTSB and FAA, to take part in this investigation as well.

The aircraft did not have a cockpit voice recorder, and although there was a flight data recorder, the investigative team was unable to recover any information. The aircraft was destroyed in the crash, and limited information was available from the wreckage and from air traffic controllers. The DGAC concluded that the there was a loss of aircraft control for undetermined reasons.

Accident Details
More about this event
Mexican DGAC accident report

Jenni Rivera biography

Jenni Rivera was born in Long Beach, CA in 1969 and raised there along with four brothers and a sister. Rivera, who was married three times and had five children, had her first child at age 15. She released her first album in 1995, eventually selling over 20 million albums. She was involved in a number of media and entertainment projects, including being a coach on a Mexican version of the the talent show The Voice. She was also a popular live performer, selling out a number of major venues such as the Staples Center and and Mexico's National Auditorium. On the night before her crash, her last concert drew over 17,000 fans. She is survived by her five children. At the time of her death, she was married to former major league baseball player Esteban Loaiza

Related Information
FAA advice on how to charter an aircraft
Other celebrity plane crashes
Historical celebrity crashes