IN BRIEF
- A pilot and 11 passengers have died after their skydiving plane crashed near Butler, Missouri.
- Authorities haven’t confirmed the cause of the crash but believe the plane lost power and attempted landing.
A tragic plane crash in Missouri has claimed the lives of a pilot and 11 passengers, all of whom were on board for a skydiving excursion, according to local authorities.
The accident happened near Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, a small town with a population of approximately 4,300 residents, located about 105 kilometers south of Kansas City.
Sergeant Justin Ewing of the Missouri Highway Patrol reported that the aircraft was transporting individuals for a planned skydiving activity.
Emergency services received an alert about the downed aircraft, which was enveloped in flames, around 11:30 a.m. local time on Sunday (2:30 a.m. Monday AEST), Ewing stated.
“The plane crashed in a field adjacent to the airport,” Ewing noted, adding that authorities have closed off the nearby roadway as a precautionary measure.
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A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lies in the grass near the airport with a massive line-up of emergency vehicles on the street beside it.
Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were en route to the crash site Sunday afternoon to investigate.
The private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, said Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director.
“It had just taken off and made a left turn” before the crash, Jacobs said.
“In my opinion, I think it was losing power, and he was trying to make it over to the highway and land, and he stalled and went down nose first and caught fire.”
Emergency responders were able to put out the fire shortly after the crash, Jacobs said, calling the scene “brutal”.
First responders have checked the area under the flight path and did not find anyone who might have tried to jump out before the crash, Jacobs said.
It’s not yet known which factors may have contributed to or caused the crash, Ewing said.
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said that poor maintenance has been a factor in some previous skydiving plane crashes because these companies are not held to a high standard under Federal Aviation Administration rules.
Guzzetti said skydiving companies are governed by the same rules any private plane owner has to follow and not the more stringent rules that charter flight operators and airlines adhere to.
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