12 killed after Missouri plane crashes in one of the deadliest US skydiving incidents in decades

By Cindy Von Quednow, CNN

(CNN) — A pilot and 11 passengers were killed Sunday after their airplane crashed moments after takeoff at a western Missouri airport in one of the deadliest US skydiving plane crashes in decades, authorities said.

The plane had just taken off from Butler Memorial Airport at about 11:35 a.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said, when it was unable to get visual altitude, made a sharp left turn and crashed about 300 yards from the runway, according to Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director.

It crashed in a field next to the airport and became engulfed in flames, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing told the Associated Press.

The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation and it could take the National Transportation Safety Board one to two years to release its final report.

Officials from the FAA were on scene Sunday and investigators from the NTSB were en route, Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson told reporters. NTSB investigators are expected to arrive at the scene on Monday, a spokesperson told CNN.

Authorities have not yet released the names of the victims, many of whom were experienced skydivers. Anderson said Sunday officials were working to identify the victims and notify their relatives.

Some victims were experienced skydivers

Nine of the victims were experienced skydivers, while two were going to participate in tandem jumps, officials said.

Travis Phippen, who said he lost several friends in the crash, described the incident as “heartbreaking.”

“The skydiving community is incredibly close-knit, and several of the people on that plane had a profound impact on countless lives – including my own,” he said.

“We all understand and accept that there are inherent risks in this sport, but losing so many friends and respected members of the community at once is absolutely devastating.”

Some who witnessed the crash were family members, officials said.

“Our hearts go out to them,” Anderson said. “There’s nothing we really can say to make it better.”

Both local and state law enforcement responded to the scene Sunday, as well as trained grief counselors with the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Behavioral Health Strike Team.

“This is tough,” US Rep. Mark Alford, a Missouri Republican, told reporters from the scene. “It’s a beautiful day here, blue skies, green grass, people out enjoying something that I think some of these were first-time skydivers preparing to skydive in a tandem formation.”

“Our hearts go out (to) those who lost loved ones in today’s tragic crash of a skydiving plane near Butler Memorial Airport,” wrote Gov. Mike Kehoe in a post on X. “Our prayers are with the community and all those working to help.”

Investigation underway

The single-engine turboprop plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, which has been in business since 1998 and has sister skydiving companies in Indianapolis and Wisconsin.

“This is a devastating loss for everyone connected to Skydive Kansas City and for the wider skydiving community,” the company said in a statement to CNN affiliate KCTV. “At this time, the focus of the management and ownership team is to assist investigators and to support the staff and the broader skydiving community. The entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit.”

FAA records show the aircraft was also registered to SkyHi Aero, a company based in Tennessee.

CNN has reached out to Skydive KC and SkyHi Aero for comment.

Jacobs said he believed the plane was losing power, telling the AP he believes the pilot “was trying to make it over to the highway and land, and he stalled and went down nose first and caught fire.”

David Soucie, a CNN aviation safety analyst, echoed Jacob’s opinion, but added it’s too early to tell what caused the potential drop in power.

The type of engine in the plane is known to be reliable, Soucie said, and the issue could have been caused by water in the fuel or a fuel filter issue, rather than maintenance problems or pilot experience.

“This, for all intents and purposes, appears to be an accident,” Anderson said.

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL was manufactured in 2010, according to FAA records. It is a popular model for skydiving but is also used for cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights, according to the AP. It can carry as many as 17 skydivers and can take off and land on short runways.

The plane had completed two short flights Sunday morning, including one at 9:20 and 10:32 a.m., before the crash, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.

Officials on Sunday canvassed the crash site on foot and by drone to see if anyone was able to jump out of the plane before it crashed, Jacobs said.

Butler Memorial Airport is a small, rural airport about an hour’s drive south of Kansas City. It has no scheduled commercial flights, Ewing said. Skydive KC is one of the few companies listed in pilot’s guides as providing service at the airport.

The airport has one runway that is nearly 4,000 feet long and no control tower. Pilots communicate using a common frequency where they announce their intentions.

The airport will remain closed for an undetermined amount of time, the sheriff said, citing the NTSB and FAA investigation.

FAA previously criticized over skydiving plane regulations

In the past decade, there had been eight fatal aircraft crashes related to skydiving, resulting in 25 deaths, according to the US Parachute Association.

Near the same airport in May 2024, a pilot and six passengers on a skydiving flight jumped from a small plane right before it crashed. No one was killed in that incident.

Aircraft used for skydiving are regulated under the same rules as private pilots, which are much less strict than those that cover most large commercial scheduled passenger aircraft.

The NTSB has previously raised concerns about the weak oversight for skydiving operators in response to prior crashes.

During a press conference in 2019 addressing a skydiving plane crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy told reporters the FAA has ignored many suggestions for changing safety regulations of parachute plane operators.

Before Sunday’s incident, the Hawaii crash was the deadliest skydiving plane crash since 1995.

“There is an inherent risk to parachuting and there are measures you take to mitigate that risk, but paying passengers should be able to count on an airworthy plane, an adequately trained pilot, a safe operator and adequate federal oversight of those operations,” Homendy said at the time.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Aaron Cooper, Leah Asmelash, Sneha Dhandapani and Julianna Bragg contributed to this report.