The National Transportation Safety Board arrived Tuesday to begin investigating 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 7:45 p.m. Sunday night as the nation’s massive winter storm was beginning to reach the area. It remained unclear on Tuesday 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 have not been officially identified
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.
The jet was registered to a corporation that shares the same address in Houston as the personal injury law firm Arnold and 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 international airport in Bangor, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Boston, is one of the closest in the U.S. to Europe and is often used to refuel private jets flying overseas. The Bombardier was headed for France when it crashed.
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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Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska and Dale reported from Philadelphia.
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