Several passengers were killed on Jan. 25 after their private jet attempted to fly out of Bangor, Maine, during a snowstorm that evening, officials confirmed on Jan. 26.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report of the accident showed that seven people were killed in the Bombardier Challenger 600 and one person onboard was seriously injured. The identifications of the passengers have not been released, pending notification of family.
Federal investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were expected to arrive on Jan. 26 to begin piecing together what caused the accident.
A report issued on Jan. 26 by Bangor International Airport had stated six people were listed on the flight manifest.
The private plane came to rest upside down before catching on fire, according to official reports.
The airport was immediately closed and will remain off limits for at least another day, Bangor International Airport Director Jose Saavedra told reporters on Jan. 26.
The accident occurred at about 7:45 p.m. at the municipal airport about 200 miles north of Boston, as much of the country battled freezing temperatures and blowing snow. Temperatures at the airport reached only 3 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service.
Bangor airport crews were removing snow on the night of Jan. 25, and ice was being removed from planes, according to Saavedra.
Commercial aircraft were also departing and landing at the time of the accident.
“The airport has a professional crew of snow removal operations … to maintain safe operations,” Saavedra said. “We had crews on site to address the weather event that we had ongoing.”
Fire and police responded to the scene in less than a minute, according to Saavedra.
The Bombardier is registered to Arnold and Itkin Trial Lawyers, a personal injury law firm in Houston.
The law firm had not released a statement about the accident by the afternoon of Jan. 26.
An NTSB spokesperson told The Epoch Times that once an investigator arrives on site, he or she will “begin the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft.”
“The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation.”
The agency will investigate the pilot, the aircraft, and the operating environment, the spokesperson said.
The investigation includes a 72-hour background probe of the pilot to find if there were any issues that could have affected the pilot’s ability to operate the flight, witness statements, flight track data, recordings, weather, and other aspects.
The winter storm that hit Maine also gripped millions across the United States over the weekend. More than 4,800 U.S. flights were canceled and more than 5,300 were delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.
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