Private Jet Crashes at Bangor Airport, Seven Dead

The Federal Aviation Administration said a Bombardier Challenger 600 carrying eight people crashed on takeoff from Bangor International Airport at approximately 7:45 p.m. local time on Jan. 25, killing seven passengers and leaving one crew member seriously injured, FAA officials said.

The crash occurred amid a massive winter storm that the National Weather Service said deposited nearly 10 inches of snow in the Bangor area and that coincided with 12,000 flight cancellations and nearly 20,000 delays across the U.S., NWS and FlightAware data show.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is leading the investigation and that preliminary information indicates the aircraft crashed on departure, experienced a post-crash fire and came to rest inverted, and that investigators expected to reach the scene within a day or two, NTSB officials said.

FAA registration records show the jet was registered to a Houston corporation that shares an address with the Arnold & Itkin Trial Lawyers firm and lists one of the firm's founding partners as the registered agent for the owning company, records show.

The NTSB said it expects to issue a preliminary report within 30 days and that local authorities will handle victim identification, while NTSB officials added that heavy snow has delayed investigators' arrival to the scene, NTSB officials said.