Seven people were killed and one crew member survived with serious injuries after a private business jet crashed during takeoff at Bangor International Airport in Maine amid a snowstorm, according to The Associated Press, citing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The Bombardier Challenger 600, carrying eight people, crashed around 7:45 pm on Sunday as New England and much of the United States were hit by a massive winter storm.
The airport, located about 200 miles north of Boston, was shut down following the incident, added the report.
While snowfall was heavy across several parts of the country at the time, accumulation in Bangor had only just begun, and other aircraft had been able to take off safely, AP quoted officials as saying.
The jet was registered to a corporation sharing an address in Houston, Texas, with the personal injury law firm Arnold and Itkin Trial Lawyers. One of the firm’s founding partners is listed as the registered agent for the company that owns the aircraft.
The crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
In a preliminary statement, the NTSB said the plane crashed upon departure and experienced a post-crash fire, adding that no further information would be released until investigators arrive at the site in the coming days.
The NTSB said it does not handle the release of information related to victims, which is the responsibility of local authorities.
Airport Director Jose Saavedra declined to comment further, saying at a news conference on Monday that he was “awaiting guidance and support from federal partners.”
An audio recording of air traffic controllers includes someone saying "Aircraft upside down. We have a passenger aircraft upside down,” 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 like Orlando, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, and is located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Boston. It was closed shortly after the crash and will remain closed until at least noon Wednesday.
The crash happened as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. Bangor had undergone steady snowfall Sunday, though planes were landing and departing around the time of the crash, Saavedra said.
The National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine, said the airport received nearly 10 inches of snow in total, though the snowfall was just beginning at the time of the crash. About a tenth of an inch of snow fell between midnight and 7 p.m. 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 U.S., halting much air and road traffic and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast.
Commercial air traffic was also heavily disrupted around much of the U.S. Some 12,000 flights were canceled Sunday and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.
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 aircharterservice.com.
The airport in Bangor is by far the largest city 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.”
With inputs from agencies
