A private jet carrying eight people crashed on takeoff Sunday night (US time) at Bangor International Airport in Maine, USA, as per the Associated Press’ initial report. Subsequent international reports indicated that six people had lost their lives in the horrific tragedy as the US continued to grapple with a historic winter storm.
One of those six victims has since been identified as Tara Arnold, the attorney wife of a prominent Houston, Texas, law firm’s founding partner, Kurt Arnold. As per US reports, she was a 46-year-old powerful lawyer who was also attached to the same firm – Arnold & Itkin Law.
The plane – Bombardier Challenger 600 – she was on was registered to her workplace. It was taking off from a snow-covered runway at the Maine airport when it crashed and exploded. ABC13 cited multiple sources’ confirmation that the firm founders, Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin were not on the plane at the time of the tragic incident.
While other victims who died in the crash have yet to be identified, the daughter of event planner Shawna Collins told ABC13 that her mother was also on the flight.
Who was Tara Arnold?
According to a Daily Mail report, Tara was on board the aircraft with her friends, who had flown in from Houston on Sunday. They reportedly landed at 6.09 pm for refuelling and ice removal before heading across the Atlantic Ocean.
As per her official profile on the Arnold & Itkin website, Tara lived in Houston with her husband, Kurt, and their two children, Jaxon and Isla. In addition to her professional inclination as an attorney, she served as a member of the Board of Director for the Saint Paul’s Methodist Church Foundation. She was actively involved in various community organisations as well.
She and her husband were also the driving forces behind KNOWAutism, a foundation for children and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Tara, in particular, had decades of experience as a commercial lawyer, and had been working at her husband’s law firm since it was established in 2005.
Arnold’s professional profile further details that she earned her law degree from Tulane University in Louisiana. Her company profile notes that she had aspired to become a lawyer from a young age, having been inspired by her mother, a personal injury attorney for victims of crime.
Following her graduation, she kicked off her career at the Houston office of a large New York City law firm, which specialised in mergers and acquisitions, as per the Daily Mail. She ultimately met her future husband in the same city in Texas, and then joined his firm.
Her husband, on the other hand, is one of the most prominent lawyers in Texas, and has won more than $20 billion in verdicts and settlements for his clients since founding Arnold & Itkin, as per his company profile.
“Kurt routinely wins more than $1 billion each year in recoveries on behalf of his clients and holds many of the records across the country for the highest verdicts and settlements,” he wrote in his profile bio.
He and his wife have also been known as the founders of the Arnold & Itkin Foundation, which supports numerous charities.
What we know about the Maine plane crash so far
The Bombardier Challenger 600 on crashed around 7:45 pm while Bangor in Maine faced steady snowfall on Sunday along with other parts of the country.
As per the Associated Press, the airport highlighted in a statement that it was closed the incident it described as involving a single aircraft leaving the airport.
An official cause of the crash has yet to be determined even as reports insinuated that icy and wintry conditions may have been a factor.
An aircraft radio recording heard by the Daily Mail included an audio saying “let there be light” minutes before the Maine airport plane crash. It remains unclear who uttered the foreboding line. The report also cited other radio chatter that included the pilots and air traffic control discussing low visibility and removing ice from the plane before takeoff.
Minutes after the tower cleared the aircraft for takeoff, officials shouted, “‘All traffic is stopped on the field! All traffic is stopped on the field!” Shortly after that, another controller said, “Aircraft upside down. We have a passenger aircraft upside down,” as per the Mail.