Six people died when a business jet crashed during takeoff as a snowstorm moved in and visibility diminished at Maine’s Bangor international airport on Sunday night, according to officials.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 carrying the dead crashed on takeoff at about 7.45pm on Sunday night as Bangor, the rest of the New England region, and much of the country grappled with a deadly, major winter storm. The airport, about 200 miles (320km) north of Boston, shut down after the crash.
Snowfall was heavy at the time in many other parts of the country.
Experts say the weather and questions about whether ice accumulating on the wings kept the plane from getting airborne – as has happened at least twice before on that plane model – will likely be an initial focus by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). However, the agency will consider all possible factors.
The jet was registered to a corporation that shares the same address in Houston, Texas, as the personal injury law firm Arnold & Itkin Trial Lawyers. And one of the law firm’s founding partners is listed as the registered agent for the company that owns the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating. The NTSB said preliminary information shows the plane crashed upon departure and experienced a post-crash fire, but that it would have no further statement until after investigators arrive in a day or two.
Earlier in the day, the FAA said seven people died and one member of the crew survived. But a spokesperson said those numbers were preliminary and subject to change. The airport then said that there were six people aboard, according to the flight manifest – all of them died, and no one was taken to a hospital.
An audio recording of air traffic controllers includes someone saying: “Aircraft upside down. We have a passenger aircraft upside down.” That was about 45 seconds after a plane was cleared for takeoff. First responders arrived less than a minute later, Saavedra said.
Bangor international airport offers direct flights to cities such as Orlando, Florida; Washington DC; and Charlotte, North Carolina. It was expected to remain closed until at least noon on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Caribou, Maine, said the airport received nearly 10in (25cm) of snow in total, though the snowfall was just starting to pick up at the time of the crash. About a tenth of an inch of snow fell between midnight and 7pm on Sunday, and snowfall was light but steady at the time, the service said.
“We have crews on site that respond to weather storms on a regular basis,” Saavedra said. “This is normal for us to respond to weather events.”
Throughout the weekend, the vast storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the eastern half of the US, halting much air and road traffic and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the south-east. At least 15 people were reported dead from the conditions, including in Texas, New York City, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Louisiana and Kansas.
Commercial air traffic was also heavily disrupted around much of the US. Nearly 12,000 US flights were canceled on Sunday and nearly more than 6,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those affected.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 is a wide-bodied business jet configured for nine to 11 passengers. It was launched in 1980 as the first private jet with a “walk-about cabin” and remains a popular charter option, according to aircharterserviceusa.com.
The model “has a history of problems with icing on takeoff” that caused previous deadly crashes in Birmingham, England; and Montrose, Colorado, more than 20 years ago, aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti said. Even a little bit of ice on the wings can cause serious problems, so careful inspections and de-icing are a crucial step before takeoff, the former federal crash investigator said. There is a time limit on how long de-icing remains effective; it could last only about 20 minutes.
The airport in Bangor is by far the largest in Maine’s northern and eastern reaches. Its longstanding joint use agreement with the Maine air national guard means “runways are ready rain or shine – or snow,” an airport website says, under the phrase: “A Little Snow Doesn’t Scare Us.”
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