A man died aboard a small jet above New England when the business flight hit extreme turbulence, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Officials did not identify the man or the other people on the plane, which had three passengers and two crew members. The Bombardier executive jet is owned by a Kansas City, Mo.-based company called Conexon, which connects rural communities with high-speed internet service.
The Bombardier Challenger 300 plane was flying from Keene, N.H., to Leesburg, Va., on Saturday when it was jostled severely enough to be diverted to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, NTSB spokesperson Sarah Sulick told the Daily News.
“The aircraft is now secured at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn.,” Sulick said in a statement. “NTSB investigators have removed the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and are continuing to gather information from the flight crew, operator and passengers about the circumstances of the event.”
The NTSB did not reveal the extent of damage to the craft or say whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt.
“NTSB is investigating the March 3 turbulence event involving a Bombardier Challenger 300 airplane that diverted to Windsor Locks, Connecticut and resulted in fatal injuries to a passenger,” the agency tweeted.
The company did not immediately answer a request for comment on Sunday.
Turbulence is known to cause injuries on larger commercial flights, but rarely deaths.
“I can’t remember the last fatality due to turbulence,” said Robert Sumwalt, a former NTSB chair and executive director of the Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
With News Wire Services
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