A Pacific Aerospace P750 carrying skydivers crashed shortly after departing Butler Memorial Airport south of Kansas City, killing all 12 people on board, authorities said.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Twelve people were killed Sunday when a skydiving plane crashed near Butler Memorial Airport in western Missouri, authorities said, in what local officials described as a mass casualty event that left everyone on board dead.
Sources told Fox 4 Kansas City that 11 of the victims were skydivers and the 12th was the pilot. The crash occurred near Butler Memorial Airport, about 65 miles south of Kansas City, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft was a Pacific Aerospace P750 that crashed while departing the airport around 11:35 a.m. local time Sunday.
“Air traffic services were not being provided at the time. Twelve people were on board. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation,” the FAA told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The plane was carrying passengers preparing for a tandem skydive, officials said. Many of those on board were inexperienced first-time skydivers.
After takeoff, the private plane turned around for an unknown reason and went down near Business 49 Highway, a spokesperson for Bates County Emergency Management told Fox 4. The aircraft was engulfed in flames after impact, but emergency crews were able to extinguish the fire shortly after the crash, Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said.
Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager and director of the Bates County Emergency Management Agency, told The Associated Press he believed the plane may have experienced power problems before it crashed.
“It had just taken off and made a left turn,” 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.”
Troopers, Butler Police Department officers and Bates County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene and assisted with the investigation. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the aircraft landed in a field next to the airport and that a nearby roadway would be closed as a precaution.
Sheriff Anderson said investigators were treating the crash as an accident and had no indication of criminal activity.
“We are treating that as a national or as a mass casualty,” Anderson said. “We want to be very clear. This is not a commercial airliner that has crashed. It’s a local airplane that took off from our local airport.”
Officials said some relatives of the victims were at the airport and witnessed the crash. The Missouri State Highway Patrol also posted information about the incident on X.
The aircraft involved was a single-engine turboprop manufactured in 2020, The Associated Press reported. The model is widely used in skydiving operations and is capable of operating on short runways.
The FAA and NTSB will investigate the crash, with the NTSB serving as the lead agency.
Original article
Comments