Dana Hyde, a White House and international development official during the Clinton and Obama administrations, was killed on Friday, March 3, 2023, after the business jet she was flying in hit severe turbulence in New England, officials said. Hyde was born in La Grande.

WASHINGTON — A passenger who died after a private jet hit turbulence as it traveled over the New England area has been identified as Dana Hyde, a prominent Beltway lawyer and White House official who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations and was on the 9/11 Commission.

Hyde, who had ties to Union County, was flying with two crew members and three other passengers aboard a Conexon-owned jet destined for Leesburg, Virginia, on Friday, March 3. The aircraft experienced severe turbulence not long after it departed Keene, New Hampshire, NBC News reported. The chief medical examiner’s office found that she died from blunt-force injuries.

The Bombardier executive jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Bradley International Airport just north of Hartford, Connecticut, and Hyde was rushed by ambulance to Saint Francis Medical Center in Hartford. She was pronounced dead a short time later.

“We can confirm that the aircraft was owned by Conexon and that Dana Hyde was the wife of Conexon partner Jonathan Chambers,” company spokesperson Abby Carere said in an email to NBC. “Jonathan and his son were on the flight also and not injured in the incident.”

Hyde was born in La Grande to David Hyde and Annie Tarter. She was the granddaughter of Burleigh and Millie Hyde, of Island City, and Bill and Lucia Tarter, of Union.

“The plane suddenly convulsed in a manner that violently threw the three of us. My wife was badly injured,” Chambers told Conexon employees by email, according to the Washington Post.

Conexon specializes in expanding high-speed internet service to rural communities.

According to Hyde’s personal bio, she worked as chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corp. and served in President Barack Obama’s administration for eight years, during which time she filled roles in the Office of Management and Budget and State Department. She also served as counsel for the 9/11 Commission and as special assistant to the deputy attorney general during President Bill Clinton’s tenure in the White House.

The National Transportation Safety Board continued to investigate the accident on March 7. Investigators are in the process of interviewing the flight’s crew members and other passengers, and they have also taken possession of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

The jet may have experienced problems with its stability before encountering turbulence or some other roughness that caused Hyde’s death, officials said March 6.

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.

Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed pilots flying the same model of Bombardier aircraft to take extra pre-flight 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.