A former White House official and prominent lawyer died on a DC-bound private flight after the plane hit severe turbulence while flying over New England.
Dana Hyde, who worked in the Clinton and Obama administrations, was rushed to the hospital in Connecticut and pronounced dead.
Hyde was traveling with her husband, son, and two other crew members when the flight had to be diverted for an emergency landing at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.
All four other passengers survived the ordeal with no reported injuries.
Connecticut police investigating the incident released Hyde’s name Monday.
The 55-year-old also worked as counsel on the 9/11 commission.
A former White House and international development official was killed last week after the business jet she was flying in hit severe turbulence. Dana Hyde was remembered as a “brilliant and generous colleague" and a loving mother. https://t.co/OjUk3fL5AQ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 7, 2023
Prominent Beltway lawyer Dana J. Hyde has been identified as the woman who died after the business jet she was traveling on hit heavy turbulence. The 55-year-old was one of five people aboard the jet. https://t.co/2EoqJEcRBn
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 6, 2023
Daily Mail reported:
In a statement Monday that offered insight into authorities’ ongoing probe into the ex-White House staffer’s death – which is also being investigated by the FBI – the Connecticut State Troopers confirmed the private aircraft belonged to a company headed by Hyde’s spouse, Jonathan Chambers.
The company, Kansas-city based Conexon, provides high-speed internet service to rural communities. Prior to joining the company, Chambers was also once a prominent figure in Washington, working in the U.S. Senate as a Republican staff director and later as the Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning for the FCC.
Hyde, meanwhile, worked as a part-time consultant to the DC-based think tank Aspen Institute, a gathering of leaders throughout various industries who strive to solve some of the world’s most prevailing issues.
In the role, Hyde served as co-chair of the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy (APIE), which, according to the agency’s website, ‘works to bridge the gaps between the people who deserve more inclusive systems and standards and the people who set them.’
Officials said Hyde was immediately transported to Saint Francis Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, after the plane landed Friday, where she was pronounced dead that evening.
No one else was injured in the incident, with officials confirming that both Chambers and one of the couple’s two children were on board at the time of the emergency landing.
The Washington Post added:
Hyde was a White House special assistant during the Clinton years. She was also a senior adviser at the State Department during President Barack Obama’s administration before becoming an associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Earlier in her career, she was counsel on the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the nation’s preparedness for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Hyde had a long-standing focus on international development and poverty issues during her years in Washington, including as chief executive of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. agency that seeks to reduce global poverty.
Hyde was seen as a “brilliant and generous colleague,” said Jon Purves, a spokesperson at the Aspen Institute, where she was co-chair of the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy in 2020 and 2021. “The thoughts of our entire Aspen Institute community are with Dana’s family and loved ones.”
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