BUTLER, Mo. — A pilot and 11 skydivers were killed after a plane crashed in western Missouri on Sunday, authorities said.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the crash occurred near Butler Memorial Airport, about 65 miles south of Kansas City, KMBC reported.
Butler has a population of about 4,300 residents, according to The Associated Press.
Preliminary information shows a skydiving aircraft, a Pacific Aerospace P750, crashed while departing Butler Memorial Airport in Missouri at approximately 11:35 a.m. local time on June 14 with 12 people on board.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) June 14, 2026
At the time of the crash, the FAA was not providing air traffic… https://t.co/FMCN81Jzyj
The crash occurred as the low-wing, single-engine 2010 Pacific Aerospace LTD 750XL took off from the airport with 11 skydivers shortly before 11:27 a.m. CT, The Kansas City Star reported. Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said during a news conference that the turboprop aircraft was unable to get to full power, according to the newspaper.
The plane was making a sharp left turn when its engine stalled near Interstate 49 Business and the aircraft crashed about 300 yards from the runway, Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director, told CNN.
“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.”
Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said that emergency responders were able to put out the fire but called the scene “brutal,” according to the cable news outlet.
Anderson said the exact cause of the crash is still under investigation, KCTV reported.
“It absolutely is a call nobody wants to have on any day,” Anderson told reporters, according to the television station. “We just want to reassure the public that there’s nothing criminal that we can see, nothing terrorism related or anything like that.”
The aircraft was registered to Skydive Kansas City, Jacobs said. Officials with the company declined to comment, CNN reported. However, an official told the Star that a news release was being prepared.
According to the AP, the crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, Ewing told the news organization.
The victims have not been publicly identified, as families had not been notified of the incident, Jacobs told CNN, adding that the crash was “horrible.”
In 2024, a skydiving plane crashed near Butler Memorial Airport after a skydiver’s parachute deployed over a small plane’s tail, the Star reported. The wayward parachute sent the aircraft out of control, but there were no injuries, according to the newspaper.
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