12 dead in crash of plane on skydiving outing in Missouri, authorities say

BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — A plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers planning to spend a sunny afternoon skydiving crashed Sunday in Missouri, killing all aboard, authorities said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement that troopers were at the crash site, assisting the Butler Police Department & Bates County Sheriff’s Office. The crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport. The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 people and is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City.

Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the plane was taking people up to skydive. Emergency responders got a call that a plane was down and engulfed in flames around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, he said.

“It landed in a field adjacent to the airport, but I think they’re shutting down the roadway just as a precaution,” Ewing said.

A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lay 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, according to the Missouri State Patrol.

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.

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL that crashed is a single engine turboprop plane model that’s popular for skydiving but has also proven useful for other uses, including cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The aircraft can carry as many as 17 skydivers and is capable of taking off and landing on short runways. The plane that crashed Saturday was manufactured in 2010, according to FAA records.

The small airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and sky dive operators, Ewing said.

Sky diving companies operate in the region eight or nine months a year, with the season usually starting in late March or early April and lasting into October or November. Someone answering the phone at Skydive Kansas City declined to speak to a reporter from The Associated Press.

It’s not yet known what factors may have contributed to the crash or caused it, Ewing said, and those details will be part of the investigation carried out by NTSB officials.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said that poor maintenance has been a factor in a number of previous skydiving plane crashes because these companies are not held to a high standard under FAA 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.

“There’s been a whole history of skydiving accidents for inadequate maintenance and deficient safety culture,” said Guzzetti who used to be a crash investigator for both the NTSB and FAA.