Skydive Incident: The Aircraft Was Unable To Gain Altitude After Departing At Approximately 11:35 AM Local Time, Made A Sharp Left Turn With The Pilot Possibly Attempting An Emergency Highway Landing Before Crashing About 60 Miles South Of Kansas City In One Of The Deadliest US Skydiving Plane Crashes In Decades
According to The Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News and CNN, all 12 occupants of a skydiving plane that crashed Sunday about 60 miles south of Kansas City died, the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed.
The FAA described the aircraft as a Pacific Aerospace P750 and confirmed that 12 people were aboard. Air traffic services were not being provided at the time. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB leading.
The plane, operated by Skydive Kansas City, went down at around 11:30 a.m. near Butler Memorial Airport along Business Interstate 49. The aircraft was unable to gain altitude after taking off and made a sharp left turn before crashing, according to Butler Memorial Airport acting manager Dennis Jacobs. He said the pilot may have been attempting an emergency landing on the highway.
One woman watching from the ground was there to see her brother, who was on the plane. His wife, a regular diver, had been bumped from the flight by a tandem jumper and survived. The Skydive Kansas City spokesperson said: “The entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit.” Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson confirmed the crash occurred shortly after takeoff.
The Pacific Aerospace 750XL is a single-engine turboprop popular for skydiving that can carry up to 17 skydivers. The crashed aircraft was manufactured in 2010. Butler has a population of around 4,300 people. NTSB investigators were scheduled to arrive on Monday to examine the aircraft and document the scene.
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