A devastating aviation incident in rural Missouri has claimed the lives of 11 skydivers and one aircraft pilot, local emergency officials confirmed this week. The fixed-wing plane, which was leased out to a local skydiving operation, departed from Butler Memorial Airport at approximately 11:20 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to a spokesperson for Bates County Emergency Management.
Witnesses and initial on-site assessments show the aircraft failed to climb to a safe altitude shortly after takeoff. It quickly banked hard to the left before plummeting into terrain roughly 200 yards from the airport runway, the spokesperson told the BBC in an initial media briefing. Tragically, there were no survivors among the 12 people on board the aircraft.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has identified the downed plane as a Pacific Aerospace P750, a utility aircraft commonly used for recreational skydiving operations. The agency also confirmed that no active air traffic control services were being provided to the airport at the time of the crash, which occurred around 50 miles south of the Kansas City metro area.
Early local media reports noted that first responders initially conducted a sweep of the surrounding area to check whether any skydivers had managed to exit the plane before the crash, though officials have since confirmed all casualties remained on board. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the U.S. federal body responsible for probing civil aviation accidents, has taken lead of the ongoing investigation into the cause of the crash. The BBC has reached out to the NTSB for additional comment on preliminary findings as the investigation progresses.