Investigators are early into their investigation of the plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia that killed seven people.

The big picture: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has been on the ground since Friday, says it'll take several days — or potentially weeks — to collect and analyze evidence from the sprawling crash site.

The latest: Investigators have recovered the jet's black box, the NTSB said Sunday night.

• They found it 8 feet underground, along with an enhanced ground proximity warning system that could contain flight data. They also found the plane's engines.

The parts are being sent to the agency's lab in Washington, D.C. to be analyzed.

• Investigators also obtained surveillance footage and several statements from witnesses. They encouraged the public to email NTSB with video and photos of the crash.

The agency said it expects to have a preliminary report done within 30 days.

• But a final report with a probable cause won't come for 1-2 years.

Zoom in: The medical jet climbed to about 1,500 feet before descending at a 45-degree angle and crashing on Cottman Avenue about 3.5 miles away from the airport, according to city and federal officials.

• The crew didn't send any distress messages from the cockpit and didn't respond to a transmission from air traffic control, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said.
• The jet was in the air for less than a minute.

"It looks like a rocket that comes straight down," David Evans, an airline transport pilot and flight instructor, told the Inquirer. "Even a Lear has some sort of glide capability. It just looks so highly unusual."

Based on air traffic control recordings, the weather at the time of the incident and publicly available flight path data, the two most likely culprits are either spatial disorientation in a low overcast cloud layer immediately after takeoff, or some catastrophic mechanical failure, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick — a pilot — tells us.

• Juan Browne, a commercial pilot and aviation accident expert, tells Axios spatial disorientation is more common at night when pilots are reliant on their instruments to help them fly.
• The lack of a distress call and the steep, rapid decline suggest the pilots were "110 percent task saturated" trying to safely navigate, Browne says. "We call it 'helmet fire' in the industry."

Caveat: Only after the official investigation may we have a full understanding of what happened.

• That the aircraft impacted the ground so violently will no doubt complicate investigators' work, given the state of the physical evidence, Axios' Fitzpatrick adds.

What they're saying: Tammy Duffy, a 59-year-old pharmaceutical representative from Hamilton, New Jersey, tells Axios she was stuck in rush-hour traffic near Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard when the plane struck.

• The explosion and a fiery mushroom cloud sent people running for their lives.
• "Time froze," says Duffy, who shut her vents to keep acrid smoke from entering her car. "It reminded me of 9/11."

Commissioner Lisa Deeley said on X the tragedy has shaken the neighborhood where she grew up: "You see these things on TV, but it's totally different when it is in your own backyard," Deeley wrote.

Heather Long, who lives near the crash site, told Axios residents are worried about how they'll get to work this week — since many streets are still barricaded with police officers preventing traffic from entering or leaving.

• "We don't have any answers," Long said. "I want to know when we can leave."

What's next

"Long-term recovery": That's what the city's Managing Director Adam Thiel is warning residents to brace for as the massive effort to restore normalcy to the neighborhood gets underway.

The crash site along Cottman Avenue — a busy corridor with a mix of homes and businesses — stretches at least a half-mile between Bustleton Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.

• Aerial footage shows a deep crater in the ground there, and a debris field that officials said likely spans several miles.
• The full extent of the damage isn't even known yet, officials said: They'll only be able to assess it after the crash investigation.

Mike's thought bubble: I went down to the site Sunday and saw the usually bustling, noisy hub brought to a standstill — a surreal feeling.

• The scene was eerily quiet even though there were police, investigators and onlookers everywhere, and I watched investigators use an excavator to hoist the charred remains of abandoned cars onto a tow truck.

State of play: Roosevelt Boulevard is expected to open by rush hour Monday morning, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Sunday.

• The Roosevelt Mall is expected to reopen on Tuesday, Kristen Moore, a spokesperson for mall owner Brixmore Property Group tells Axios.
• PECO has restored services to the neighborhood, except for some buildings that were impacted by the crash.
• It's not clear when Cottman Avenue will reopen to traffic.

What we're watching: The city is still working to figure out exactly how many people were displaced or missing due to the crash.

• "It is possible there are still people … that we don't know about," Thiel said Sunday.

Officials will hold a town hall meeting at 7pm on Wednesday to answer residents' questions and share more resources. The location: Solomon Solis-Cohen School (7001 Horrocks St).

• The city is partnering with three organizations so residents can soon donate to people impacted by the crash.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.

Investigators continue combing through the wreckage of the small jet crash that rocked Northeast Philadelphia Friday night, leaving a gaping hole in the ground — and through the heart of residents still reeling from the tragedy.

• All six passengers onboard and one motorist on the ground died in the incident, according to city officials.

The big picture: The plane crash followed the country's deadliest aviation disaster in more than 20 years, when an American Airlines passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers on Wednesday night outside of D.C.

The latest: The number of people injured in the Philly crash has risen to 24 people, including four who remain hospitalized — two of them in critical condition, Mayor Cherelle Parker said Monday afternoon. City officials declined to confirm the names of the victims.

• At least 11 homes were damaged, but the city isn't sure how many people have been displaced, the city's Managing Director Adam Thiel said Sunday.
• City officials will hold a town hall meeting at 7pm on Wednesday to answer residents' questions and share resources. The location: Solomon Solis-Cohen School (7001 Horrocks St).

Investigators found the black box Sunday, the NTSB said.

• The crew didn't send any distress messages from the cockpit and didn't respond to a transmission from air traffic control, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday evening.
• According to city officials, "Flight logs show the plane was in the air for only a minute before it crashed."

State of play: PECO has restored services to the neighborhood, except for some buildings that were impacted by the crash, officials said Sunday morning.

• Roosevelt Boulevard is expected to open by rush hour on Monday morning, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.
• It's unclear when Cottman Avenue and adjacent streets will reopen, or when Roosevelt Mall and the businesses in the affected area will open.
• The school district is holding classes Monday morning.

The debris field could span several miles, officials said previously, and residents are being asked to avoid the area.

• The city has a shelter open at Samuel Fels High School (5500 Langdon Street) in partnership with the Red Cross. And deputy managing director of health and human services Crystal Yates-Gale said the city is offering counseling for residents.

Investigators could be seen working on Cottman Avenue Sunday. An excavator hoisted up burned-out cars onto a tow truck.

• The area is normally a bustling, noisy hub of activity, but the mall and businesses along the crash site remained closed.

Catch up quick

The Learjet 55 crashed around 6:10pm Friday night. The six people aboard were Mexican nationals, according to a post on X from Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• The medical jet, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The jet was carrying a pediatric patient who had been treated at Shriners Children's Hospital in Philly, and who was returning home to Mexico with her mother, escorted by four crew members.
• "I know that the team there [at Shriners] in Philadelphia had a sendoff for her [Friday]," Mel Bower, a spokesperson for the hospital, told NBC10. "It's always a meaningful but yet emotional time for us. It's really just been compounded by the tragic ending."

What they're saying: "We heard an explosion and then saw the aftermath of flames and smoke," one eyewitness told 6ABC after the crash. "Common sense told me that I not get close to it and very quickly, just a cavalry of police and first responders. God bless them for going into harm's way."

• The tragedy drew out "the best of Philly," Gov. Josh Shapiro said Friday night. "We saw neighbor helping neighbor."

Zoom out: Parker said the city is partnering with three organizations to help people impacted by the crash, and that residents will soon be able to donate.

Go deeper: Philadelphia plane crash: What went wrong

Editor's note: This story has been updated with statements and additional details throughout.

School leaders across the U.S. are working to reassure parents about potential immigration enforcement on campuses after the Trump administration reversed a long-standing policy discouraging enforcement in "sensitive" areas.

Why it matters: The mere possibility of immigration enforcement on campus could cause widespread fear, leading some students to skip school. This would disrupt their education and threaten school funding, which is often tied to attendance.

Catch up quick: The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it was ending the policy of avoiding arrests in churches, schools, hospitals, funerals, weddings, and public demonstrations.

• "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
• "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense."

Context: Children in the U.S. have a right to public education regardless of immigration status, meaning schools don't turn back — and in most cases, don't track — whether a student is in the country without authorization.

Zoom in: Some school districts are taking proactive steps to protect students and families, outlining policies that limit cooperation with immigration authorities and reinforce campus safety measures:

• Denver Public Schools, a district with roughly 89,000 students, said on Jan. 14 that principals should deny entry to any government official who arrives without prior appointments or legitimate school business and also initiate "secure perimeter" protocols, locking all exterior doors and halting all entries or exits from school buildings.
• The Salt Lake City School District has urged parents to update emergency contact information and reiterated that it doesn't track students' immigration status and will not report students to immigration authorities.
• The Philadelphia School District said school staff are instructed not to provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with any information about students, families or employees, nor will they be allowed in schools without approval from district lawyers.
• Last month, San Diego Unified School District board adopted a resolution saying the district will not assist ICE in the "enforcement of federal civil immigration law" and won't allow access to its facilities or personnel unless officers have a warrant.

Reality check: The districts have long maintained policies that exclude immigration issues from schools; they are mainly reiterating these to alleviate fears among families.

Plus: Some districts in GOP-led states say they'll cooperate with ICE or are staying mum on their plans.

• "Florida schools will cooperate with all law enforcement working to enforce the nation's laws on illegal immigration," Florida's education department spokesperson Sydney Booker told Axios Tampa Bay.
• Northside ISD, San Antonio's largest district, does not plan to issue any communications or FAQs about immigration, district spokesperson Barry Perez tells Axios.

What they're saying: Nicholas Espíritu, deputy legal director at the National Immigration Law Center, says it's not clear what ICE enforcement in or around schools could look like.

• Past administrations have avoided allowing ICE in schools, choosing instead to focus efforts on people with violent criminal histories and who pose a national security threat.
• "One thing is for sure — little children trying to go to school and learn how to read and write don't pose threats to national security," Espíritu says, adding that even the possibility of enforcement could severely disrupt children's education and growth.