Beyond the Dome: Six dead in business jet crash caused by snowstorm

By Javohir Aminov, Asst. News Editor

Portland, Maine was predicted to get hit with nine-point-five inches of snow reported by ABC News on Sunday Jan. 25. Despite this news, the Bombardier Challenger 600 decided to take off at Bangor International Airport, resulting in a crash that killed six people. 

As the storm was approaching the sector and the plane was getting ready for takeoff, the plane flipped over on its roof, causing an explosion around 7:45 p.m. During this incident, a worker on duty from the air traffic controllers calmly stated “we have a passenger aircraft upside-down,” to which authorities responded to in under a minute after the plane erupted. 

According to CBS News, one of the victims was Nick Mastrascusa, a father of three and a successful chef who worked for more than 20 years in the culinary industry. Another victim that was found in the wreckage was 53-year-old event planner Shawna Collins, a wife and mother who was in the process of planning her daughter's wedding during the year.

The third victim was Tara Arnold, who was married to Kurt Arnold, the co-founder of the law firm that owned the plane. Lastly, 47-year-old pilot Jacob Hosmer, who worked for the injury law firm, Arnold and Itkin, for seven months as well as a licensed flight instructor. Among the six people on board of the aircraft, only four have been identified by loved ones, but the identities of the two remaining passengers have yet to be determined.

The cause of the crash is still unknown, but experts speculate that ice may have formed on the wings of the plane, which held it down before taking off, causing it to flip over on the tarmac and burst into flames. Although this is speculation, the Bombardier did in fact go under a de-icing process so that ice doesn’t accumulate while the plane is airborne, but it wasn’t specified how long until the process regresses and the ice starts to appear again.

This raises the concern of the de-icing process planes have to undergo and how reliable it truly is. Based on AP News, the Bombardier Challenger had been investigated after the crash that occurred on Jan. 4, 2002 in England, but progress wasn't made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until the crash of Nov. 28, 2004 in Colorado. The FAA then established additional steps for airports and pilots to conduct during the winters, ensuring that there is absolutely no ice on the plane. Even a small amount of frost can cause the plane to go out of control.