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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The company that operated a charter jet that crashed into a warehouse in 2005 routinely overloaded its planes with fuel in violation of federal regulations and used pilots who weren't certified for that type of flying, prosecutors charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
Six people connected to now-defunct Platinum Jet Management, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., face charges that include conspiracy, fraud, endangering the safety of aircraft and making false statements to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The 23-count indictment accuses the six men of "routinely undertaking and concealing dangerous fueling and weight-distribution practices," including on the day a Platinum-operated jet failed to lift off at Teterboro Airport on Feb. 2, 2005.
The Bombardier Challenger CL-600, a corporate jet being used that day as a private charter to Chicago Midway Airport, went off the runway, crashed through a fence and clipped two cars on a busy road, then smashed into a warehouse, causing a fire.
Six people connected to now-defunct Platinum Jet Management, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., face charges that include conspiracy, fraud, endangering the safety of aircraft and making false statements to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The 23-count indictment accuses the six men of "routinely undertaking and concealing dangerous fueling and weight-distribution practices," including on the day a Platinum-operated jet failed to lift off at Teterboro Airport on Feb. 2, 2005.
The Bombardier Challenger CL-600, a corporate jet being used that day as a private charter to Chicago Midway Airport, went off the runway, crashed through a fence and clipped two cars on a busy road, then smashed into a warehouse, causing a fire.