Three of 6 Bangor, Maine plane crash victims identified as Tara Arnold, top lawyer wife of Kurt Arnold and Texas event planner, Shawna Collins & Houston pilot, Jacob Hosmer. Bombardier Challenger 600 plane crash thought to be linked to de-icing as plane sat on tarmac while refueling during blizzard winter storm en route to Paris final destination.
What went wrong? The wife of a prominent lawyer has been identified as one of six killed in a private jet crash on a snowy airport runway in Maine over the weekend.
Tara Arnold, 46, wife of personal injury attorney Kurt Arnold, died along with several of her friends during a business trip to Paris.
Bangor plane crash during take-off leaves all 6 occupants dead
The Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet went down during takeoff from Bangor International Airport about 7.45pm on Sunday. At the time of the tragedy, visibility was less than a mile when the Challenger 600 crashed.
Flight data showed the private jet plane veering right during takeoff and flipping on the runway at speeds of 175mph and erupting in flames. All six occupants on board the flight were killed according to Bangor Daily News.
While authorities had yet to identify all six fatalities, initial reports told of the two other victims being event planner, Shawna Collins along with 47-year old Houston, Texas area veteran pilot, Jacob Hosmer.
The plane was registered to Tara’s husband Kurt Arnold’s successful personal-injury firm — Arnold & Itkin Law — where she also worked. Both Kurt Arnold and his business partner Jason Itkin were not on the plane when it crashed, sources told ABC 13.
Ominous warning before take-off?
Hosmer who was the captain of the flight had been working as a pilot for Arnold and Itkin since May 2025. He has held previous positions with Wing Aviation, Apollo Aviation and Priester Aviation, all of which frequently run private charter jets, according to his LinkedIn.
Reviewed recordings of conversations between the air traffic control personnel and the pilots waiting to take off from BIA on Sunday evening. The conversations centered around the poor weather and icy conditions flight crews were encountering on the runway.
At one point, a pilot can be heard talking about de-icing issues with the tower, stating that ‘my guys are trying to make us go, but I keep telling them this is stupid,’ before they discussed attempting to de-ice things again.
A moment before take-off, a voice was eerily heard over the flight’s radio communications saying, ‘Let there be light,’ although it’s unclear what that meant.
‘All traffic is stopped on the field!’ an air-traffic controller then quickly shouted.
‘Aircraft upside down, we have a passenger aircraft upside down,’ a controller added as emergency crews rushed to the wreck.
Tarmac de-icing to be probed
An audio recording of air traffic controllers posted online said the aircraft had flipped upside down about 45 seconds after being cleared for takeoff. First responders arrived on scene in less than a minute, airport director Jose Saavedra told media.
Prior to the fatal plane crash, the doomed jet had landed in Bangor around 6 p.m. for refueling after taking off from Houston’s Hobby Airport, before its scheduled re-take off during blizzard conditions to Paris, its final destination when the tragedy struck, KHOU reported.
The plane’s captain, according to one of a close friend had been an aviation specialist for 15 years.
‘I would describe him as a great pilot, a loving husband and a phenomenal father,’ the friend said. ‘He was always kind. He was always laughing.’
Kurt Arnold and his law partner Jason Itkin — as well as both their wives — were known to make multimillion-dollar donations to Texas Republican causes, as well as to such things as the Texas Longhorns football program, which they pledged $40 million to. The two have won more than $20 billion in verdicts and settlements since founding Arnold & Itkin.
Bombardier Challenger 600 plane crash thought to be linked to de-icing
Tara, a Louisiana native, worked at the firm, specializing in offshore workplace injuries after graduating with high honors from Tulane Law School. Tara previously worked in the Houston office of a New York-based law firm before joining Arnold & Itkin, where she handled commercial and business dispute matters.
She and her husband and their two children (Jaxon and Isla) lived together in an $11 million Houston home.
The daughter of event planner Shawna Collins also confirmed her mother was on the flight. The daughter told ABC13 she had spoken to her mother on Sunday before the flight, and Collins was excited about the upcoming business trip to Europe.
Several other planes were taking off and landing before the wreck, but the airport was also de-icing aircraft waiting on the tarmac — and it remains unclear whether the ill-fated jet had been a part of those procedures after having just arrived less than 90 minutes earlier.
Aviation expert weighs in discussing Bombardier Challenger 600s winter issues
Investigators will now be questioning what role the ongoing Winter Storm Fern may have played in Sunday’s tragedy?
The private jet had been sitting along the frost bitten tarmac since landing earlier at 6 p.m. It remains unclear whether it had been a part of the de-icing procedures.
Bombardier Challenger 600s have had a history of takeoff troubles during inclement cold-weather takeoffs — with small ice accumulations being known to affect the craft, according to aviation consultant Jeff Guzzetti.
‘Given the weather conditions at the time and the history of wind contamination with this particular aircraft, I’m sure that’s something the NTSB is going to look into immediately,’ Guzzetti told the nypost.
‘If there was any kind of precipitation at all, freezing precipitation, they would have needed to clean off those wings before they took off,’ Guzzetti added.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Authorities are investigating the crash.
