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A private aircraft carrying eight people crashed on takeoff Sunday night at Maine’s Bangor International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed around 7:45 p.m. local time, and there was no immediate word on the conditions of those aboard. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
The crash occurred as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. Bangor had undergone steady snowfall Sunday along with many other parts of the country.
The airport issued a statement that emergency crews were on the scene, which was closed after what it described as an incident involving a single aircraft departing the airport.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 is a wide-bodied business jet configured for nine to 11 passengers. It was launched in 1980 — by Canadair, later acquired by Bombardier of Dorval, Que. — as the first private jet with a “walk-about cabin.”
Bangor International Airport offers direct flights to cities like Orlando, Fla., Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C., and is located about 320 kilometres north of Boston, and about 180 kilometres east of the New Brunswick border.
Throughout the weekend, the vast storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the eastern half of the U.S., affecting air traffic.
Some 12,000 flights were cancelled Sunday and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com.
Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.