Bangor, Maine

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Infinite Destinations video
 
markhb said:
The runway is closed in Bangor due to a private jet crash on takeoff. No further news yet.
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Sounds like it could be pretty high profile crash with the plane registered to this Houston law firm.......

www.arnolditkin.com

Arnold & Itkin - No Matter What.™

Nationally recognized personal injury lawyers. Call Arnold & Itkin for your free consultation.
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Had won HUGE cases against Monsanto and Johnson & Johnson and are big University of Texas Athletics donors.
 
Weird that there would be conflicting info on the number of people on board and number of fatalities considering it was a small private plane. I feel like the Bangor Police Dept. and BIA should not have said anything beyond "yes there was an incident and yes there were fatalities." Then a statement like "we are waiting for the NTSB to arrive to investigate and there will be more info. to come." I hope this isn't politically motivated grandstanding by locals because the last thing that Maine needs is more negative publicity and attention from the Trump Regime.
 
The FAA originally had it at 7 passenger fatalities and the pilot seriously injured; I guess that has been updated to a total of 6 aboard, all deceased. Texas media is reporting the names of two of the victims; I won't mention them here, but I do have to wonder how fancy do you have to think you are to fly a private jet from Houston to Paris for 5 people; I would think you'd get a better experience for less flying first class on some fancy airline like Turkish or Emirates.
 
markhb said:
The FAA originally had it at 7 passenger fatalities and the pilot seriously injured; I guess that has been updated to a total of 6 aboard, all deceased. Texas media is reporting the names of two of the victims; I won't mention them here, but I do have to wonder how fancy do you have to think you are to fly a private jet from Houston to Paris for 5 people; I would think you'd get a better experience for less flying first class on some fancy airline like Turkish or Emirates.
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They owned the jet already, and presumably paid the crew insurance etc, so for them its whatever marginal cost of fuel would be. For them, it probably does come out cheaper than the 12k+ Air France ticket. But its the call the pilots and go experience - basically no tsa at the FBO, no lounge, just go. That said, I'm aware of several corporate flight policies that basically say that their jets are generally to stay in North America - intercontinental travel is to be on major carriers from a safety perspective over water.
 
Stlin said:
They owned the jet already, and presumably paid the crew insurance etc, so for them its whatever marginal cost of fuel would be. For them, it probably does come out cheaper than the 12k+ Air France ticket. But its the call the pilots and go experience - basically no tsa at the FBO, no lounge, just go. That said, I'm aware of several corporate flight policies that basically say that their jets are generally to stay in North America - intercontinental travel is to be on major carriers from a safety perspective over water.
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I had a client not long ago in which I was able to fly private with him, etc., and it was with Delta Private Jets (Gulfstreams). I felt safe with them, but with other private jet carriers not so much. One time, coming into Des Moines airport (the key FBO is at the commercial airport) with another private charter company, or not big or notable like Delta was, there was an issue with an instrument landing gear light and from what I observed or deduced, the co-pilot f'd up. We got off just off the taxi way in front of a line of emergency vehicles. Scary. So, be aware with the smaller ones as maintenance and often the pilots (or the co-pilot) have less experience than the big ones. They should have flown into Boston and taken comfy first class to Paris--way better. It's mostly just ego going private. That, and no TSA as you drive up on the tarmac and don't even have to bring your luggage up. The sole flight attendant waits at the entrance to the cabin handing out flutes of champagne. Do miss that, though.
 
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TC_zoid said:
I had a client not long ago in which I was able to fly private with him, etc., and it was with Delta Private Jets (Gulfstreams). I felt safe with them, but with other private jet carriers not so much. One time, coming into Des Moines airport (the key FBO is at the commercial airport) with another private charter company, or not big or notable like Delta was, there was an issue with an instrument landing gear light and from what I observed or deduced, the co-pilot f'd up. We got off just off the taxi way in front of a line of emergency vehicles. Scary. So, be aware with the smaller ones as maintenance and often the pilots (or the co-pilot) have less experience than the big ones. They should have flown into Boston and taken comfy first class to Paris--way better. It's mostly just ego going private. That, and no TSA as you drive up on the tarmac and don't even have to bring your luggage up. The sole flight attendant waits at the entrance to the cabin handing out flutes of champagne. Do miss that, though.
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I mean... how many of us are in a position to be choosing charter operators? Not I, at least - the only times I've flown "private" were in a twin piper piloted by a friend who happens to also be a captain at a legacy carrier. Besides... to the best of my knowledge, unless you're doing it via one of the bigger jet card operators like Wheelsup (Delta) or flexjets or via fractional, my understanding is that the vast majority of chartered flights are booked through a broker who finds you an jet that fits the bill - you're not choosing an operator directly.

I'm sure you're aware, but its just an unfortunate reality of the stratified aviation space... its expensive to run a jet fleet, and hire the folks to fly them. The legacy carriers skim the cream off the top, then the LCCs, then Fedex/UPS, regionals, then ACMI/flexjet/netjets... and even those are all stepping stones in a pilots carrier before you hit the myriad other flying gigs for companies that may well have more questionable maintenance practices, nor have the cachet to hire the best pilots. No one with better opportunities is going to want to be in the right seat of a 40 year old learjet or CJ2 being operated on a shoestring budget. Having met the Netjets maintenance director, I would be amazed if any smaller operation even comes close to having the resources that backs them. Similarly, the operator of that same jet isn't seeing job applications from ex-navy test pilots - they're often hiring decidely marginal crews with multiple training failures. There's usually quite a few planes that fit that mold flying around American skies. Not to say that major carriers haven't and won't have pilot error crashes, but swiss cheese and all that.
 
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Yeah, and in this case, apparently the plane was registered directly to the law firm (or, rather, an LLC shell corp, because lawyers), and the pilot was an employee of said firm. So you weren't even dealing with a fleet operator.
 
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New Goggle imagery showing the construction underway at BIA to connect the international and domestic terminals with an elevated corridor and additional hold space.
 
I had heard that the Bangor Mall was struggling and had a high vacancy rate but didn't realize it had gotten to this level. Hope new ownership can inject some life into it but the odds are against its revival with so many enclosed regional malls across the country closing and being abandoned. I remember walking to Bangor's Airport Mall as a kid when it first opened in 69-70 and thought it was the coolest place until I went to Disney World a few years later! :)
 
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I think it was important to arrest control from the current owner who has let the property whither and rot. Local ownership will have skin in the game. Hoping that the long term plan for the mall property might involve some stuff outside of retail such as residential, recreation, medical, etc. It’s a very valuable, visable and accessible property right off I-95….between downtown Bangor and the University of Maine. There’s no doubt that it is not being put to its best use right now.
 
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