A private plane tied to a Houston-based law firm stayed on the tarmac too long after de-icing treatment before crashing during a January takeoff in Bangor, Maine, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The aircraft took off 17 minutes after de-icing treatment began on Jan. 25, the report states, but due to “moderate” snowfall and an outside temperature of 3.2 degrees, Federal Aviation Administration guidelines dictate the pilots should have waited no more than nine minutes from the start of the de-icing before taking off.
After attempting to take off, the plane landed upside down on the runway and burst into flames. The airport closed for several days as officials had to wait for snowy conditions to subside before recovering the bodies and wreckage from the tarmac…