by WorldTribune Staff, March 9, 2023
A prominent Washington lawyer who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations died last week during a private jet flight.
Dana J. Hyde, 55, was one of five individuals on board the D.C.-bound aircraft which was forced to divert to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut on Friday afternoon after encountering what was reported as “unforeseen instability.”
Trump White House adviser Garrett Ziegler wrote in a Telegram post: “Another Clinton associated person dead by mysterious means. She died from ‘turbulence.’ ”
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Others onboard, who all survived and were not injured, included Hyde’s husband and son, as well as two crew members.
The exact cause of Hyde’s death has not been reported. Her family has yet to make a statement.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is not expected for another two to three weeks.
Turbulence, which is unstable air in the atmosphere, remains a cause for injury for airline passengers despite airline safety improvements over the years. But deaths are extremely rare.
“I can’t remember the last fatality due to turbulence,” said Robert Sumwalt, a former NTSB chair and executive director of the Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Officials said NTSB investigators had already removed the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which they are in the process of analyzing.
In a statement on Monday that offered insight into authorities’ ongoing probe into the ex-White House staffer’s death — which is also being investigated by the FBI – Connecticut State Troopers confirmed the private aircraft belonged to a company headed by Hyde’s spouse, Jonathan Chambers.
Hyde had been working as a part-time consultant to the D.C.-based think tank Aspen Institute.
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