A skydiving plane carrying 11 passengers and one pilot went down killing all 12 people.
A plane carrying 11 skydivers and one pilot crashed near Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri, on Sunday morning, killing everyone on board. The crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 14, in the area of Business 49 Highway. The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed that all 12 occupants of the aircraft perished in the incident.
Butler is a small town with a population of around 4,300 people, situated roughly 65 miles south of Kansas City. What began as a routine Sunday skydiving outing ended in one of the deadliest aviation accidents the region has seen in recent memory.
What happened before the crash
A spokesperson with Bates County Emergency Management said that just before 11 a.m., a private plane leaving Butler Memorial Airport turned around for an unknown reason before crashing in the area of Business 49 Highway.
The plane had just taken off, was unable to get visual altitude, made a sharp left turn and crashed about 300 yards from the runway. Emergency responders received a call that a plane was down and engulfed in fire. Responders were able to quickly extinguish the flames, but by then there was nothing more that could be done for those on board.
The aircraft involved was a Pacific Aerospace 750XL, a single-engine turboprop model that is widely popular in the skydiving community but also used for cargo transport, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The plane is capable of carrying as many as 17 skydivers and can take off and land on short runways. According to FAA records, the aircraft that crashed was manufactured in 2010.
Who was on board
The 12 victims were: 1. eleven skydivers, and 2. one pilot. Emergency crews searched the surrounding area to determine whether any of the skydivers had managed to jump from the plane before the crash occurred. Authorities had not released the identities of any of the victims as of Sunday afternoon, and the investigation remained in its earliest stages.
The small Butler Memorial Airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and skydiving operators. Skydiving companies operate in the region eight or nine months a year, with the season typically beginning in late March or early April and running through October or November. Sunday’s crash happened in the heart of that active season.
Multiple agencies responding
The Missouri State Highway Patrol, along with the Butler Police Department and the Bates County Sheriff’s Office, responded to the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are also involved in the investigation, with the NTSB taking the lead.
The plane came down in a field adjacent to the airport. Authorities closed all lanes of Business 49 Highway near the airport and asked residents to avoid the area for an undetermined period of time.
A devastating scene
The scale of the loss hit local emergency responders hard. Emergency responders were able to extinguish the fire shortly after the crash, but the scene was described by Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing as “brutal.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed in a statement that troopers were on the scene assisting the Butler Police Department and Bates County Sheriff’s Office following the crash. Investigators have not yet indicated a cause for why the plane turned back toward the airport or what triggered its rapid descent.
The crash marks a grim day for the tight knit community of Butler and for the broader skydiving community. As the NTSB leads the formal investigation, authorities are expected to examine the aircraft’s flight data, maintenance records and eyewitness accounts in the weeks ahead. This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.