All 12 Killed in Skydiving Plane Crash in Missouri
BUTLER, Mo. — June 14, 2026 — A single-engine turboprop plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers on a skydiving excursion crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Butler Memorial Airport on Sunday, June 14, killing all 12 people aboard, authorities said .
The crash occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time when the aircraft — operated by Skydive Kansas City — struggled to gain altitude, made a sharp left turn, and plummeted nose-first into a field adjacent to the airport . The wreckage was described by officials as a heap of blue and silver mangled metal .
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Emergency responders arrived to find the aircraft fully engulfed in flames. The fire was extinguished shortly after the crash, according to Bates County Emergency Management Agency Director Dennis Jacobs, who called the scene “brutal” .
Families Watched From the Ground
Some of the victims‘ family members witnessed the crash from the airport, Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson confirmed . Clergy and volunteers were dispatched to the scene to assist grieving relatives.
“Our hearts go out to them,” Anderson said at a news briefing. “There’s nothing we really can say to make it better. We just pray for them and their loved ones, and their friends, and their family, and hope that they can recover some sense of normalcy, if they can” .
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe offered condolences, stating: “Our hearts go out (to) those who lost loved ones in today‘s tragic crash” .
Experienced Jumpers and First-Timers Among Victims
Nine of the passengers were experienced skydivers, while two were preparing for tandem jumps — their first time skydiving — officials said . First responders searched the area under the flight path and confirmed that no one had jumped from the aircraft before impact .
“The skydiving community is incredibly close-knit, and several of the people on that plane had a profound impact on countless lives — including my own,” Travis Phippen, who said he lost several friends in the crash, told CNN. “We all understand and accept that there are inherent risks in this sport, but losing so many friends and respected members of the community at once is absolutely devastating” .
Skydive Kansas City, which operated the flight, said in a statement that the “entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit.” The company‘s focus, the statement said, is on assisting investigators and supporting staff and the broader skydiving community .
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Witnesses Describe Engine Trouble
According to Jacobs, the pilot had just taken off and was making a left turn when the aircraft appeared to lose power. “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 told the Associated Press .
Aviation safety expert David Soucie told CNN that while it is too early to determine the exact cause, the type of engine involved is known to be reliable, suggesting the issue could have been caused by water in the fuel or a fuel filter problem .
The plane, a Pacific Aerospace 750XL manufactured in 2010, had completed two short flights earlier Sunday morning, including one at 9:20 a.m. and another at 10:32 a.m., according to flight tracking data . The aircraft is registered to SkyHi Aero, a Tennessee-based company, and is a model widely used in the skydiving industry due to its ability to carry up to 17 jumpers and operate from short runways .
Regulatory Oversight Questioned
The crash has renewed scrutiny of safety regulations governing skydiving operations. Unlike charter flight operators and airlines, skydiving companies operate under Part 91 of FAA regulations — the same rules that apply to private pilots flying small general aviation aircraft — which impose less stringent maintenance and training requirements .
“There’s been a whole history of skydiving accidents for inadequate maintenance and deficient safety culture,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the NTSB and FAA .
The National Transportation Safety Board has previously raised concerns about weak oversight of the skydiving industry. Following a 2019 crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii, the NTSB concluded that the FAA‘s regulatory system “isn’t strong enough to ensure the safety of skydiving flights” .
Investigation Underway
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have dispatched teams to the crash site. The NTSB is expected to release preliminary findings within a month, though a final report on the cause could take a year or more .
The Butler Memorial Airport — which has no control tower and a single runway — will remain closed while federal investigators are on the scene. The highway adjacent to the airport has also been shut down as a precaution .
The crash ranks as one of the deadliest U.S. skydiving plane incidents in decades, according to CNN . Before Sunday‘s tragedy, the Hawaii crash in 2019 had been the deadliest such accident since 1995 .
The identities of the victims have not yet been released pending notification of next of kin. Funeral services and community vigils are being planned across the region to honor the lives lost. A memorial fund has been established to support the families affected by this devastating tragedy.
SOURCES / INPUTS
- AP News: All 12 occupants dead in Missouri plane crash, state highway patrol says
- CBC News: Plane crash in Missouri kills all 12 people aboard
- ABC News Australia: Twelve people killed in plane crash on a skydiving flight in Missouri
- The Canadian Press: 12 dead in crash of plane on skydiving outing in Missouri, authorities say
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