The Provincetown-Boston Airline twin-engine turboprop took off just after 6 p.m. from Jacksonville International Airport for the short flight to Tampa. Within minutes the small commuter plane, one of 113 in P.B.A.’s fleet, apparently lost its tail section, slammed into a brush-bound clearing and burst into flames. The two-man crew and all eleven passengers were killed.
The crash was the third in six months for troubled P.B.A., which was shut down briefly last month by the Federal Aviation Administration for alleged safety violations, including poor maintenance, inadequate pilot training and falsification of inspection records. Before it was grounded, P.B.A. was the largest commuter airline in the country, carrying 4,000 passengers daily, mostly in Florida and New England. P.B.A. had resumed flying only twelve days before last week’s crash. Congress plans to ask the FAA why it returned P.B.A.’s license so soon. “There was a lot of pressure to get this carrier back in the skies again,” said Congressman Dan Glickman of Kansas. “We need to find out if the FAA acted properly in reopening the carrier.”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington Meet the 2025 Women of the Year Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer? Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love 11 New Books to Read in February How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone Cecily Strong on Goober the Clown Column: The Rise of America’s Broligarchy
- Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- 11 New Books to Read in February
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Cecily Strong on Goober the Clown
- Column: The Rise of America’s Broligarchy
Contact us at letters@time.com