A major aviation disaster occurred Sunday, June 14 in Bates County, when a private aircraft carrying skydivers crashed and caught fire shortly after takeoff. All 12 people on board were killed, including 11 skydiving passengers and one pilot.
According to Reuters, the aircraft took off from Butler Memorial Airport shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time. Soon after becoming airborne, the plane turned back toward the airport before crashing near Business 49 Highway.
Dennis Jacobs, director of the Bates County Emergency Management Agency and acting airport manager, said the aircraft was operated by Skydive Kansas City and was a single-engine turboprop aircraft.
Jacobs said preliminary observations suggest the aircraft made a left turn after takeoff and then appeared to experience a loss of power.
“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.”
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Following the accident, multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Butler Police Department, the Bates County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Jacobs said emergency crews quickly extinguished the fire, but described the crash scene as “extremely devastating.”
Search teams also examined areas beneath the aircraft’s flight path to determine whether anyone had managed to exit the aircraft before impact, but found no evidence that any occupants had escaped.
Video footage from the scene showed wreckage scattered across a grassy field. The aircraft was heavily damaged, with thick white smoke continuing to rise from the debris.
The FAA later confirmed that the aircraft was a Pacific Aerospace P750. The agency said the crash occurred at approximately 11:35 a.m. local time while the aircraft was departing Butler Memorial Airport.
The FAA noted that the airport was not providing air traffic control services at the time of the accident. The agency and the NTSB will jointly investigate the crash, with the NTSB leading the inquiry.
No unusual activity reported
According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, the aircraft had already completed two short flights on the day of the crash. It had conducted two flights the previous day and five flights on Friday, with no unusual activity reported in its recent operating history.
The aircraft involved, a P750XL, is widely used in the skydiving industry and is also commonly employed for cargo transport, aerial surveying, and medical evacuation missions. Manufacturer specifications indicate it can carry more than 1,800 kilograms (about 4,000 pounds) and is capable of short takeoff and landing operations.
FAA records show the aircraft was manufactured in 2010, making it approximately 16 years old.
The exact cause of the accident remains unknown. As is standard procedure, the NTSB will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the wreckage, engine condition, flight records, weather conditions, and other relevant factors. Due to the complexity of the investigation, a final report may take a year or longer to complete.
The crash has also renewed attention to safety oversight within the skydiving aviation sector. Following a 2019 skydiving aircraft crash in Hawaii that killed 11 people, the NTSB stated that the FAA’s existing regulatory framework was insufficient to ensure the safety of commercial skydiving flight operations.
