Influencer Keaton Milburn Mourns Mother Killed in Private Jet Crash
Keaton Milburn vividly recalls the moment she learned her mother, Shawna Collins, was killed in a private jet crash on a snowy runway across the country. Weeks after the plane carrying Collins to Paris exploded, the internet star still feels a profound void in her heart each morning when she realises her "best friend" is gone.
Collins, aged 39, died alongside five others when the Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 650 flipped during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in Maine on January 25. The superstar event planner was on a location scouting trip for plane owner Tara Arnold's luxury travel venture, Beyond, and took off during a severe winter storm.
A Daughter's Heartfelt Tribute
In her first public words since the tragedy, Milburn, 28, said her mother "never let a day go by without showing me she loved me." She expressed her ongoing struggle with grief, stating, "Every single day now that I wake up and remember my mom isn't here I feel like I can't breathe. I don't know how to live without her and I'm not sure I ever will. She was my best friend and my favorite thing to do was brag about how amazing my mom was. There are no words for this pain. I miss her so much."
Mother and daughter had been excited about Milburn's upcoming wedding to Brandon Dawkins, a sports marketing staffer at Adidas, which Collins was actively organising. The couple dated for many years until Dawkins proposed last year, but Milburn emphasised that her mother was always her Valentine.
"I have never had a Valentine's Day where she didn't make me a Valentine's basket. Even in college she mailed me one every year, even engaged she mailed me and Brandon our own separate baskets," she shared. "Throughout my life she taught me how to love others. She taught me how to show up, how to be there for my friends and most importantly how to love myself. Loving who I am and having confidence has always come from my mom. Every good quality I have is from her. I want to make her proud every single day. I want to love others the way she did... She'll always be my Valentine forever."
Memorialising a Cherished Mother
Milburn is navigating her grief by memorialising her mother with a tattoo of a memento she unexpectedly discovered hours after the plane crash. "The day after I got the news about my mom I was at home in Texas and as I unpacked my suitcase I looked down and saw a small piece of paper that said 'keke' in my mom's handwriting," she explained. "It struck me so much in that moment seeing a piece of my mom I had unintentionally brought from LA to Texas. I decided to save that small piece of paper and have that tattooed as well. This day was one of the hardest days of my life but I'm grateful I got to be surrounded by my family and friends. We celebrated her, told stories, laughed and cried and it was just what I needed."
Milburn described her mother as her biggest cheerleader who pushed her to become the woman she is today. "Even as a baby she prayed my life would be full of favour and I would have that in everything I do and everyone I meet," she said. "Anytime I was nervous to go to an event, try something new, make new friends or pursue something new in my career she would say 'you don't need to worry because you have favour from God'. It's something I've always believed because she told me."
Community Mourning and Investigation Details
Collins was mourned at an elaborate memorial hosted by Joel Osteen's megachurch Lakewood Church in Houston, where she had worshipped and volunteered for over two decades. Vendors Collins worked with for years donated her favourite food, drinks, and candies, and her longtime florist and best friend Amanda arranged her favourite flowers. The church stated, "She was a light that brightened our days and she possessed a beautiful spirit that lifted everyone she met. We love Shawna dearly and we will miss her more than words can express. We pray for her entire family and offer them our love and support during this difficult time."
Dawkins penned his own touching tribute to his future mother-in-law, writing, "Shawna, there will always be a quiet ache and a piece missing in every life you touched. Your laugh still echoes, your love still lingers, and your heart lives on through the people who carry you with them every day. You are missed more than words can ever express. Thank you for the incredible gift of your family and most of all, for Keaton. I could never replace you, and I would never try, but I promise to love her deeply, protect her always, and honor the values and love you poured into her."
Arnold, 46, had planned the trip as part of her new luxury travel company Beyond, which she established with her husband Kurt, who was not on the plane. Beyond provides invitation-only curated travel experiences for the extremely wealthy, including stays at five-star resorts and exotic culinary adventures. The plane was owned by Kurt's law firm Arnold & Itkin, where Arnold also worked. Collins, a friend of Arnold, planned events for the firm through her company and was listed as the "luxury event designer and experience curator" on Beyond's website, making her essential for scouting locations on the trip.
Also on board were chef Nick Mastrascusa, 43, wine expert Shelby Kuyawa, 34, pilot Jacob Hosmer, 47, and co-pilot Jorden Reidel, 33. Bangor is the closest airport in the US to Europe, and the plane stopped there to refuel after arriving from Houston. It was loaded with 19,872 pounds of fuel when it crashed, causing multiple explosions and a massive fireball.
Safety Concerns and Regulatory Oversight
Crash investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report criticising the delay in taking off after de-icing. The report did not specify a cause for the crash—which will be included in the full report later this year—but aviation experts believe the de-icing delay is most likely at fault. According to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, the plane should have waited no more than nine minutes from the start of de-icing treatment before taking off in those cold and snowy conditions. However, the NTSB report found 17 minutes passed before takeoff.
The cockpit voice recorder captured Hosmer commenting that it was "standard" to have 14 to 18 minutes between deicing and takeoff, the report stated. Hosmer said that if the wait was more than 30 minutes, they would return to the ramp to have the plane retreated, and Reidel concurred. After crashing, the plane landed upside down on the runway and burst into flames, leading to the airport's closure for several days.
The FAA published new rules in 2005 to clarify to pilots and airports that even a small amount of frost on the wings can be problematic. This was "prompted by a report that even small amounts of frost, ice, snow or slush on the wing leading edges or forward upper wing surfaces can cause an adverse change." The NTSB noted in an earlier report into a similar crash that even 1/64th of an inch of ice is enough to be dangerous. The FAA also clarified standards for de-icing to ensure all frozen particles are removed from the wings, requiring a combination of tactile and visual inspections.
