11 skydivers and pilot killed in Missouri plane crash

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — A pilot and 11 passengers were killed Sunday after their airplane crashed moments after takeoff at a western Missouri airport in one of the deadliest US skydiving plane crashes in decades, authorities said.

The plane, which was leased by a skydiving company, had just taken off from Butler Memorial Airport at about 11:35 a.m. local time when it was unable to get visual altitude, made a sharp left turn and crashed about 300 yards from the runway, according to Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director.

It crashed in a field next to the airport and became engulfed in flames, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing told The Associated Press.

Jacobs said he believed the plane was losing power.

He believed the pilot was trying to make it over to the highway and land, and he stalled and went down nose first, he told the AP.

"We are treating that ... as a mass casualty," Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said during an afternoon news conference.

The sheriff said the plane was not a commercial airliner, and rather "a local airplane that took off from our local airport."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane was a Pacific Aerospace P750 and crashed while departing the airport.

"Air traffic services were not being provided at the time," the FAA said. A spokesperson explained that the plane was not required to be in communication due to the type of air space it was flying in.

Local media reported that first responders checked the area to see if any of the skydivers had jumped from the plane before the crash.

Some family members of the deceased witnessed the incident, the sheriff said.

Authorities have not shared information on the identities of the victims.

Officials canvassed the crash site on foot and by drone to see if anyone was able to jump out of the plane before it crashed, Jacobs said.

Nine of the victims were experienced skydivers, while two were going to participate in tandem jumps, officials said.

Travis Phippen, who said he lost several friends in the crash, described the incident as “heartbreaking.”

“The skydiving community is incredibly close-knit, and several of the people on that plane had a profound impact on countless lives—including my own,” he said.

“We all understand and accept that there are inherent risks in this sport, but losing so many friends and respected members of the community at once is absolutely devastating.”

The city of Butler is about 50 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation into the crash, the FAA said.