Twelve killed as skydiving plane crashes shortly after take-off in Missouri

Tragedy struck near Butler Memorial Airport in Missouri on Sunday morning when a plane carrying 12 people crashed, resulting in the deaths of all aboard. The aircraft, a single-engine turboprop popular for skydiving operations, had just taken off from the airport, located about 105 kilometers south of Kansas City.

Emergency responders received a call about the downed aircraft, which was engulfed in flames, around 11:30 a.m. local time. The plane landed in a field adjacent to the airport. A heap of mangled blue and silver metal marked the crash site, surrounded by a significant number of emergency vehicles. Authorities have cordoned off the nearby roadway as a precaution.

Skydive Kansas City operated the private plane. Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director, suggested the plane may have lost power shortly after takeoff. "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," Jacobs stated. First responders extinguished the fire, and searches confirmed no one attempted to jump from the plane before the crash.

Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are en route to investigate the incident. The aircraft, manufactured in 2010, is capable of carrying up to 17 skydivers and can operate on short runways. While the exact cause remains unknown, aviation safety experts have previously cited poor maintenance as a factor in similar skydiving plane crashes due to less stringent FAA regulations for such operations compared to charter flights.

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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.