The crash site is near Guadalajara about 30 minutes from Toluca, their destination.
The terrain around Monterrey however can be challenging, I've lived there for a few years - high mountains and snakey valleys. They were, however, not in this area when things went wrong.
Edit: Wonder why they flew towards Guadalajara, however, as this is not on the path from MTY to Toluca either. The investigation will show...
The crash site is about 60 miles SSW of MMMY.
FAA registry search shows it is owned by a Fractional corporation in Las Vegas probably leased to fly charter flights. Having done much of the same type of Lear Jet flying with departures after their concert in the wee hours I understand if they find out fatigue had something to do with the crash.
An LA Times article (dated tomorrow
) seems to indicate that the wreckage is near the town of Iturbide which is SSE of MTY and the plane is registered to a 'Las Vegas talent management firm' which may indeed be a fractional ownership for FAR purposes:
The plane, built in 1969 and registered to a Las Vegas talent management firm, reached 11,000 feet. But 10 minutes and 62 miles into the flight, air traffic controllers lost contact with its pilots, according to Mexican authorities. The jet crashed outside Iturbide, a remote city that straddles one of the few roads bisecting Mexico's Sierra de Arteaga national park.
Wreckage was scattered across several football fields' worth of terrain. An investigation into the cause of the crash was underway, and attempts to identify the remains of the victims had begun.
Latin music star Jenni Rivera believed dead in plane crash - latimes.com
I'm guessing a likely initial departure route out of MTY VOR would be out UJ81/V19 perhaps transitioning to UQ101 at URSUR/30 DME. The MEA for V19 in that direction is 13000 ft. Apologies in advance for all this pilot talk.
but my guess is that the instruments and electrical system may play a role here.
or, if it did get to 20,000 feet, forgeting or having pressurization problems and pilots pass out.
It's been decades for me but it seems like this vintage of Lear did not have ground air sensing for the pressurization and the FO had to turn it on with a toggle switch on the bottom of the front panel. If you forgot, an emergency mode would kick in by maybe 12000 feet with noisy hot air. Or, so they tell me...