Tragedy Strikes: Internet Sensation Faces Heartbreak After Mother’s Fatal Private Jet Crash

Keaton Milburn vividly recalls the moment she discovered her mother had perished in a tragic private jet crash on a snow-laden runway far from home.

Even weeks after the plane carrying Shawna Collins to Paris erupted into flames, the internet personality continues to feel an irreplaceable void each morning she wakes up to the reality that her ‘best friend’ is no longer with her.

Collins, aged 53, was among six individuals who lost their lives when the Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 650 overturned during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in Maine on January 25.

The renowned event planner was embarking on a scouting mission for plane owner Tara Arnold’s luxury travel enterprise, departing in the midst of a fierce winter storm.

In her first public statement since the accident, 28-year-old Milburn shared that her mother ‘never let a day go by without showing me she loved me.’

‘Every single day now that I wake up and remember my mom isn’t here I feel like I cant breathe,’ the popular influencer said. 

‘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.’

Keaton Milburn says she is struggling to go on after her mother Shawna Collins (pictured together) was killed in a private jet crash on a snowy runway across the country

Milburn still feels a hole in her heart when, every morning, she realizes her ‘best friend’ is gone

The Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 650 flipped during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in Maine on January and exploded in a fireball

Mother and daughter were excited about Milburn’s upcoming wedding to Brandon Dawkins, a sports marketing staffer at Adidas, which Collins was organizing.

The couple dated for many years until Dawkins proposed last year, but Milburn said her mother was always her Valentine.

‘I have never had a Valentine’s Day where she didn’t make me a Valentines basket. Even in college she mailed me one every year, even engaged she mailed me and Brandon our own separate baskets,’ she said.

‘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.’

Milburn is working through her grief by memorializing her mother with a tattoo of a memento she unexpectedly found 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 moms handwriting,’ she said.

Milburn, 28, said her mother ‘never let a day go by without showing me she loved me’

‘I don’t know how to live without her and I’m not sure I ever will,’ Milburn said

Mother and daughter were excited about Milburn’s upcoming wedding to Brandon Dawkins (pictured together), a sports marketing staffer at Adidas, which Collins was organizing

‘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 said her mother was always her biggest cheerleader and pushed her to become the woman she is today.

‘Even as a baby she prayed my life would be full of favor 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 favor from God”. 

‘Its something I’ve always believed because she told me.’

Collins was mourned at an elaborate memorial put on by Joel Osteen’s megachurch Lakewood Church in Houston, where she worshipped and volunteered at for more than 20 years.

Vendors Collins worked with for years donated her favorite food, drinks, and candies, and her longtime florist and best friend Amanda set up her favorite flowers.

‘She was a light that brightened our days and she possessed a beautiful spirit that lifted everyone she met,’ the church said in the days after the crash.

‘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.’

Milburn speaks at an elaborate memorial put on by Joel Osteen’s megachurch Lakewood Church in Houston, where Collins worshipped and volunteered at for more than 20 years

Milburn said her mother was always her biggest cheerleader and pushed her to become the woman she is today

Milburn is working through her grief by memorializing her mother with a tattoo of a memento she unexpectedly found hours after the plane crash

Dawkins penned his own touching tribute to his future mother-in-law in the weeks after her death.

‘Shawna, there will always be a quiet ache and a piece missing in every life you touched,’ he wrote.

‘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, planned the trip as part of her new luxury travel company Beyond, which she set up with her husband Kurt, who wasn’t 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 was a friend of Arnold and planned events for the firm through her company. Her social media pages includes numerous photos with Arnold and her husband.

She was listed as the ‘luxury event designer and experience curator’ on Beyond’s website and would be essential to scout the locations on the trip.

Top lawyer Tara Arnold, 46, (left) was on a location scouting trip with private chef Nick Mastrascusa, 43, (center) for luxury travel company Beyond, which she started as a side venture with her husband Kurt Arnold (right)

Tara Arnold, 46, wife of personal injury attorney Kurt Arnold, died in the crash. The couple are pictured with their children Jaxon and Isla

Shelby Kuyawa, 34, successful wine expert, was also on the plane

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 19,872lbs of fuel when it crashed, causing multiple explosions and a massive fireball. 

Crash investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the tragedy that criticized the delay in taking off after de-icing. 

The report didn’t 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 to most likely be at fault.

The plane should have waited no more than nine minutes from the start of when the deicing treatment began before taking off in those cold and snowy conditions, according to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. 

But 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 it crashed, the plane landed upside down on the runway and burst into flames. The airport remained closed for several days afterward

The FAA published new rules in 2005 to make clear to pilots and airports that even a small amount of frost on the wings can be a problem. 

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’.

Even 1/64th of an inch of ice is enough to be dangerous, the NTSB said in an earlier report into a similar crash. 

The FAA also clarified the standards for deicing to make certain that all frozen particles are removed from the wings, and it required a combination of tactile and visual inspections.