According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a private jet carrying eight people crashed on the night of January 25th while taking off from Bangor International Airport in Maine.
The FAA told USA TODAY that the Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed while taking off from the airport on January 25 at approximately 7:45 p.m. local time. There were eight people on board the plane.
Just before 8:30 p.m. local time, Bangor International Airport announced in a Facebook post that the incident at the airport is under investigation. “First responders have arrived on scene and are assessing the situation.”
Bangor Police Department confirmed that the incident involved an aircraft departing from the airport. At approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, police announced in a news release that first responders were still on scene and “expected to remain active at the scene for several more hours until additional information is available.”
Additional details were not immediately released, but the airport said the runway was closed and urged the public to avoid the area. The airport was closed and police confirmed that flights had been cancelled.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident. Maine State Police is assisting local authorities, a spokesperson said.
The plane arrived in Maine after a flight from Texas.
A government official briefed on the incident told Reuters that a large fire broke out after the crash, and that the plane arrived in Maine after flying from Texas.
Aviation tracking website FlightRadar24 posted on X that it was tracking reports of a plane crash in Bangor. FlightRadar24 reported that data showed the plane was attempting to depart from the airport after arriving from Houston.
The company listed as the aircraft’s registered owner shares a Houston address with personal injury law firm Arnold & Itkin. The plane entered service in April 2020, according to FAA records.
Bangor International Airport is a joint military-civilian public airport located in the city of Bangor, approximately 197 miles northeast of Portland. The airport has one runway.
Plane crash occurs during winter storm
The incident occurred during a severe winter storm that brought heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Northeast. A winter storm warning for Bangor, the state’s third-largest city, remained in effect until early January 27, according to the National Weather Service.
“A winter storm warning for snow means severe winter weather conditions will make travel extremely dangerous,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.
AccuWeather said in a statement that at the time of the plane crash, “snow from a dangerous winter storm began falling approximately two hours earlier, and conditions were intensifying and rapidly deteriorating.”
Visibility was three-quarters of a mile and ceilings were as low as 1,100 feet, according to AccuWeather. The temperature was around 2-3 degrees with a continuous wind blowing from the northeast at 5-10 mph.
This is a developing story.
Contributed by: Reuters
