The US National Transportation Safety Board has arrived to begin investigations at a Maine airport where a business jet crashed during takeoff, killing all six people on board.The Paris-bound Bombardier Challenger 600 flipped over and burned on takeoff at Bangor International Airport around 7.45pm Sunday night (local time).
It came as the nation’s massive winter storm was beginning to reach the area. It remained unclear on Tuesday (local time) if the weather or cold played a role in the crash as investigators were just beginning their work.
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 NTSB.
However, the agency will consider all possible factors.
The FAA released an updated accident statement on Tuesday that said the six people on board died, and that number included four passengers and two crew members.
The statement said the plane “crashed under unknown circumstances on departure, came to rest inverted and caught on fire”.
The crash victims include a pilot and an event planner
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Maine said Tuesday that the office is working with law enforcement to confirm the identities of the people who died.
Lakewood Church in Houston, run by Joel Osteen Ministries, confirmed on Tuesday that longtime employee Shawna Collins, 53, was among those killed.
“She oversaw our customer service department,” church spokesperson Donald Iloff Jr told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Everybody loved her. She just had that kind of personality.”
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Collins’ social media posts show her work organising parties and events in Italy, Hawaii and elsewhere, for clients that included Arnold and Itkin Trial Lawyers, the Houston law firm linked to the plane’s registration. Collins, who was married with children and grandchildren, had also been helping plan her daughter’s wedding set for this year, he said.
“She was very good at it. Everybody wanted her to plan her events for them,” Iloff said.
One of the law firm’s founding partners is listed as the registered agent for the company that owns the plane. The firm has so far declined to identify the passengers or comment on the crash.
A relative of the pilot, speaking to ABC News, identified him as Jacob Hosmer. Hosmer, 47, is listed in online records as a licensed flight instructor and the managing member of Platinum Skies Aviation LLC, incorporated in Texas in late 2024.
The international airport in Bangor, about 320 kilometres north of Boston, is one of the closest in the US. to Europe and is often used to refuel private jets flying overseas. The Bombardier was headed for France when it crashed.
NTSB said they would have an update on Wednesday, while the airport said it expected to provide one later Tuesday.
A preliminary report outlining the facts of the crash should be released in about a month, but the final version likely won’t be published for more than a year.
History of icing problems with these planes
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 Bombardier Challenger 600 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.
And there is a time limit on how long de-icing remains effective. It could last only about 20 minutes.
“Given the weather conditions at the time, and the history of wind contamination with this particular aircraft, I’m sure that’s something the NTSB is going to look into immediately,” Guzzetti said.
“If there was any kind of precipitation at all, freezing precipitation, they would have needed to clean off those wings before they took off.”
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