Private aircraft with eight onboard crashes on takeoff in Maine amid winter storm | Maine

A private aircraft carrying eight people crashed on takeoff Sunday night at Maine’s Bangor international airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said – as that region and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm.

The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed at about 7.45pm, and there was no immediate word on the conditions of those aboard. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating.

Bangor had undergone steady snowfall Sunday, along with the rest of New England and many other parts of the country.

The airport issued a statement that emergency crews were on the scene at the airport, which was closed after what it described as an incident involving a single aircraft departing the airport.

Bangor’s international airport offers direct flights to cities like Orlando, Florida; Washington DC; and Charlotte, North Carolina. It is located about 200 miles (320 km) north of Boston.

Throughout the weekend, the vast storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the eastern half of the US, halting much air and road traffic and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the southeast. At least 14 people were reported dead from the conditions, including in Texas, New York City, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Louisiana and Kansas.

Commercial air traffic was also heavily disrupted around much of the US.

Some 12,000 flights were canceled 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 affected.

The Bombardier Challenger 600 is a wide-bodied business jet configured for nine to 11 passengers. It was launched in 1980 as the first private jet with a “walk-about cabin” and remains a popular charter option, according to aircharterservice.com.