The mystery over exactly who was aboard a doomed private jet that crashed into a fireball in Maine, killing all six occupants, deepened Tuesday as officials worked to identify the remains and NTSB probers arrived on the scene.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 — which took off in Houston and had stopped to refuel before it was supposed to continue to Paris — flipped over and burst into flames during take-off from Bangor International Airport around 7:45 p.m. Sunday — just as the nation’s massive winter storm was beginning to pound the region.
The state’s medical examiner’s office Tuesday said it was still scrambling to confirm the identities of those who perished in the wreck, while local authorities have been tight-lipped on who was on the plane at the time.
So far, only the attorney wife of an elite Texas law firm partner, an event planner and the pilot have been identified by friends and family as victims.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived on the scene early Tuesday as questions also mounted over whether the snowy weather and freezing temperatures played a role in the tragedy.
Experts have said the weather, including ice potentially accumulating on the wings, may have kept the plane from getting airborne and will likely form part of the probe’s focus.
Four passengers and two crew members were on board when the jet went down, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Among the killed passengers was Tara Arnold — a 46-year-old powerhouse lawyer and mom from Texas– who was reportedly en route to France with her friends.
The jet was registered to Tara’s husband Kurt Arnold’s successful personal-injury firm — Arnold & Itkin Law — where she also worked as a lawyer, records show.
Neither Kurt Arnold or his business partner were on the jet, ABC 13 reported, citing sources.
Shawna Collins, a 53-year-old event planner who counted the law firm among her clients, was ID’d as one of the victims, too.
Collins, who was married with children and grandchildren, had been planning her daughter’s wedding for later this year, a representative for her church confirmed.
“She was very good at it. Everybody wanted her to plan her events for them,” said Lakewood Church rep Donald Iloff Jr.
“Everybody loved her. She just had that kind of personality.”
Jacob Hosmer, a 47-year-old Houston-area pilot who was the captain of the flight, died in the wreck, too, his father confirmed to KPRC2.
Hosmer started working as the law firm’s pilot in May.
The law firm has so far refused to identify the passengers on board or comment on the crash.
So far, the FAA has only said that the plane “crashed under unknown circumstances on departure, came to rest inverted and caught on fire.”
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