The wife of a prominent lawyer was one of six killed in a horror private jet crash on a snowy airport runway.
Tara Arnold, 46, wife of personal injury attorney Kurt Arnold, died along with several of her friends on a girls’ trip to Paris.
Event planner Shawna Collins and experienced pilot Jacob Hosmer, 47, were also killed. The other three victims are yet to be publicly identified.
The Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet went down during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in Maine around 7.45pm on Sunday.
Dramatic footage showed the burning wreckage of the plane upside down on the runway. Flight data showed it veered right during takeoff and flipped at 175mph.
The FAA earlier on Monday incorrectly said there were eight people on board including one crew member who survived.
Tara, a commercial lawyer with decades of experience, worked at Arnold & Itkin since it was established in 2005.
She and Kurt lived in an $11 million mansion in Houston with their two children, Jaxon and Isla.
The top Houston firm, to which the downed plane was registered, is known for defending undocumented migrants.
A page talking up the firm’s expertise in aviation accident litigation was quietly removed from its website after the crash.
Tara and her friends flew in from Houston on Sunday, landing at 6.09pm, for refueling and ice removal before heading across the Atlantic Ocean.
She earned her law degree from Tulane University in Louisiana, near the small town in Sabine Parish where she grew up.
Inspired by her mother, a personal injury attorney for victims of crime, she wrote on her company profile that she wanted to be a lawyer from a young age.
‘When someone hires a lawyer to pursue a claim or file a lawsuit, it represents years of a person’s life, their family’s future, and the power to make a living for the rest of his or her life. It’s my business to protect those things,’ she wrote.
Tara graduated magna cum laude and began her career at the Houston office of a large New York City law firm, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.
While in Houston she met Kurt and joined his firm.
Her company profile described how she was passionate about helping victims of accidents on offshore oil platforms.
‘During her free time, Tara loves to travel to new places and enjoys being active outdoors,’ her bio read.
Tara’s mother Karen and brother Sam declined to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail.
The Arnolds were noted philanthropists, particularly to Kurt’s alma mater, the University of Texas. They, along with Jason and his wife Kisha, have donated more than $40 million to the university’s athletics programs.
Harris County Precinct Four Commissioner Lesley Briones paid tribute to Tara, with whom she was a close friend along with Kurt.
‘My heart hurts for them and their children and their families. I worked at Arnold & Itkin for a time and so I know them well,’ she said.
‘This is just a tragedy and in particular Tara, she is just a phenomenal person, a bold leader and somebody who had a heart of service.’
Collins’ daughter said she had spoken to her mother ahead of the flight on Sunday and Collins was excited about the upcoming business trip to Europe.
One of Hosmer’s friends also said he knew him for 15 years as an aviation specialist.
‘I would describe him as a great pilot, a loving husband and a phenomenal father,’ they. ‘He was always kind. He was always laughing.’
Hosmer’s LinkedIn profile lists Arnold & Itkin LLP as his employer since May 2025.
Audio from the aircraft’s radio recording, heard by the Daily Mail, included a voice saying ‘let there be light’ minutes before the crash.
It was unclear whether the eerie line was spoken by one of the pilots or an air-traffic controller, or what they were referring to.
They may have been commenting on how Bangor’s Runway 33 went from pitch-black to brightly lit after the runway lighting was switched on.
Doorcam video captured a loud bang when the plane crashed, but not the plane itself.
Other radio chatter included the pilots and air traffic control discussing low visibility in the winter storm and removing ice from the plane before takeoff.
Less than two minutes after the tower cleared the plane for takeoff, they shouted, ‘All traffic is stopped on the field! All traffic is stopped on the field!’
Minutes later, another controller said: ‘Aircraft upside down. We have a passenger aircraft upside down.’
A witness claimed the plane lifted off the runway but then crashed back onto it and ‘exploded’.
Photos showed the destroyed aircraft smashed and flipped over on the runway with black smoke filling the air.
The temperature was just 1F at the time of the crash – well below freezing – and Bangor had six to eight inches of snow on Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
There has been widespread travel chaos across the US due to Winter Storm Fern, with 11,000 flights canceled.
FAA weather cameras captured the clouded conditions at the airport around the time of the crash.
A winter storm warning went into effect in Maine at 7pm on Sunday and will remain until 3am on Tuesday.
Forecasters have described the storm as catastrophic, as at least 24 states have declared a state of emergency.
Heavy snow and dangerous ice have hit 34 states across the South, Midwest and Northeast.
