NTSB says jet in deadly flight may have had ‘trim issues’

HARTFORD, Conn. — A business jet may have experienced problems with its stability before encountering turbulence or other roughness that caused the death of a passenger who served in two presidential administrations, officials said Monday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s looking at a “reported trim issue,” a reference to adjustments that are made to an airplane’s control surfaces to ensure it is stable and level in flight.

The agency initially reported that the plane experienced severe turbulence late Friday afternoon.

Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed pilots flying the same model of Bombardier aircraft to take extra preflight measures after trim problems had been reported.

Investigators will have more information after they’ve analyzed the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and other information, such as weather at the time, the NTSB said.

The Bombardier executive jet was traveling from Keene, N.H., to Leesburg, Va., before diverting to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Three passengers and two crew members were aboard.

The person who died, identified as 55-year-old Dana Hyde of Cabin John, Md., was brought to a hospital in Hartford, Conn., where she was later pronounced dead, Connecticut State Police said Monday.

The chief medical examiner’s office found that she died from blunt-force injuries.

The jet’s owner, Conexon, based in Kansas City, Mo., confirmed in an email that Hyde was the wife of a company partner, Jonathan Chambers, who was also on the plane with his son.

Neither father nor son were hurt, the company said.

Hyde served as counsel for the 9/11 Commission, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and other posts during a career in Washington, according to her Linkedin page.

She served as a special assistant to the president for cabinet affairs and a special assistant to the deputy U.S. attorney general during President Bill Clinton’s administration, and as a senior policy adviser at the State Department and associate director at the Office of Management and Budget during President Barack Obama’s administration, the Linkedin site indicates.

Turbulence is unstable air in the atmosphere, which continues to be a cause for injury for airline passengers despite safety improvements.

But deaths from turbulence are extremely rare.

There were 30 injures, but no deaths, from 2009 to 2020, the FAA said in December.