A charter jet carrying six construction and gambling executives and two pilots crashed while approaching the regional airport at Owatonna, Minnesota airport Thursday morning. All eight people aboard were killed.
The Raytheon Hawker 800 left Atlantic City International Airport and was due to arrive shortly before 9:30 am, but never made it. This is the first crash for East Coast Jets, the company that operated the chartered jet. The company’s headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and both pilots were from the Bethlehem and Hellertown, Pennsylvania area. Only one of the six passengers, 44-year-old Karen Sandland, has been identified. Sandland was a project manager for Tishman Construction.
Although chartered airline usage seems to have peaked in 2005, there are still thousands of flights a year in the U.S. and their track record of avoiding accidents isn’t as good as large commercial airliners. Few and far between, these accidents occur because many small jets land at smaller airports where runways, control towers and more are not as convenient as national airports, and the craft aren’t large and can be tossed around easier than other bigger planes in bad weather.
If you have lost a loved one in a small business jet crash, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.
