BANGOR – A private jet scheduled to stop in Bangor on Friday afternoon crashed shortly after takeoff from the Birmingham International Airport in England, killing all five people aboard.

Three crew members and two passengers – all U.S. citizens – died when the twin-engine Canadair Challenger jet crashed after clipping its wings on the ground during takeoff shortly after noon Greenwich mean time, according to initial reports.

AGCO Corp., a Duluth, Ga.-based farm equipment manufacturer, owned the nine-seat jet, which was scheduled to stop at Bangor International Airport at 1:30 p.m. EST to refuel and possibly clear customs, according to BIA director Rebecca Hupp.

Initial reports that the plane was registered in Maine were inaccurate, Hupp said.

The jet is registered in Georgia, according to FAA records. After its Bangor stop, the plane was to continue to DeKalb Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, Ga., according to a spokeswoman there.

The victims included John Shumejda, 54, president and chief executive officer of AGCO, and Ed Swingle, 59, senior vice president of sales and marketing, a company spokeswoman said. Both had attended a meeting in Coventry of AGCO’s British operation.

The pilots, who worked for Epps Aviation, based at DeKalb Peachtree Airport, were identified as Thomas Boydston, 51, of Lawrenceville, Ga.; Robert Norton, 58, of Dunwoody, Ga.; and Timothy Vandevort, 41, of Duluth, Ga.

Witnesses described a huge cloud of black smoke above the aircraft after the crash. Birmingham airport was closed after the incident.

“My husband and I went out to the front of the house, where we can see over the runway, and there was a thick, black plume of smoke rising to about 100 feet,” Joan Hood told the British Broadcasting Corp.

Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the crash. Airport authorities said the “black box” data recorder was retrieved from the plane.

The plane was registered with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 30, 1999, and had not undergone any modifications since entering service, the FAA’s official records showed.

The Canadair Challenger 604 aircraft is capable of a range of 4,300 miles. Produced in Montreal, the plane is powered by CF34 engines made by America’s General Electric company.

Able to carry about 20 passengers, the wide-bodied jet has become a particularly popular corporate aircraft in the United States, BIA officials said.

AGCO has more than 11,000 employees worldwide and 200 in Duluth, Ga. The company said its executive chairman, Robert J. Ratliff, would assume the additional re-sponsibility of interim president and chief executive officer.

“It’s very sad, but the company … will survive this,” said Molly Dye, a company spokeswoman in Georgia.