By KRISTIN M. HALL and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press
BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — A plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed in a field and was engulfed in flames Sunday, killing all aboard, authorities said.
The crash happened shortly after the plane took off from a local airport around 11:30 a.m., and some of the occupants’ family members witnessed the crash, said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson.
A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lay in the grass near Butler Memorial Airport with a massive lineup of emergency vehicles gathered on a nearby street. Clergy and volunteers went to the site to assist relatives, Anderson said, and officials were working Sunday afternoon to identify all victims and notify their next of kin.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were also on scene Sunday afternoon, Anderson said, and a team from the National Transportation Safety Board was en route.
The private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, said Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director. It was identified as a single engine turboprop plane.
“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.”
Emergency responders put out the fire in the wreckage soon after the crash, Jacobs said, calling the scene “brutal.” First responders also checked the area under the flight path and did not find anyone who might have tried to jump out before the plane came down, he said.
The Pacific Aerospace 750XL that crashed is a model that’s popular for skydiving and also has proven useful for carrying cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The aircraft can carry more than 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) and is capable of taking off and landing on short runways, according to the manufacturer. The plane was built in 2010, according to FAA records.
Sky diving companies operate in the region eight or nine months of the year, with the season usually starting in late March or early April and lasting into October or November. Someone answering the phone at Skydive Kansas City declined to speak to a reporter from The Associated Press.
The crashed occurred on a sunny day in the area. Data from the digital flight tracking company FlightAware shows the plane had already completed two short flights on Sunday before the crash. Two more successful flights were logged Saturday, and five on Friday, according to FlightAware.
It’s not yet known what factors may have contributed to the crash, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said, and those details will be part of the investigation carried out by NTSB officials.
The sheriff emphasized that the public is safe and this “appears to be an accident.”
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said poor maintenance has been a factor in a number of previous skydiving plane crashes because these companies are not held to a high standard under FAA rules. Guzzetti said skydiving companies are governed by the same rules any private plane owner has to follow and not the more stringent rules that charter flight operators and airlines adhere to.
“There’s been a whole history of skydiving accidents for inadequate maintenance and deficient safety culture,” said Guzzetti who used to be a crash investigator for both the NTSB and FAA.
The exact cause of Sunday’s crash won’t be clear for a year or more until the NTSB publishes its final report.
The NTSB has previously raised concerns about the weak oversight for skydiving operators in past crash investigations. The agency said after a 2019 crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii that the FAA’s regulatory system isn’t strong enough to ensure the safety of skydiving flights.
.The small airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and sky dive operators, Jacobs said.
The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 people and is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City. The Butler Memorial Airport, as well as the highway that runs beside it, will remain closed while federal investigators are on the scene, Anderson said Sunday afternoon.
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This story has been updated to correct that Jacobs called the scene “brutal.”
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press Transportation Writer Josh Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska, along with AP reporter Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa.