A plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers crashed Sunday near Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri, killing all 12 people aboard, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said emergency responders received a call that the plane was down and engulfed in flames, and troopers were at the scene assisting the Butler Police Department and the Bates County Sheriff’s Office.
Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson told reporters the plane crashed at roughly 11:30 a.m. CST shortly after departing Butler Memorial Airport and went down in a field.
A Bates County Emergency Management spokesperson said the airplane, which was leased by a skydiving company, took off around 11:20 local time and, after failing to gain altitude, made a sharp left turn and crashed about 200 yards from Butler Memorial Airport; Anderson said, "We are treating that... as a mass casualty." He also said some family members of the deceased witnessed the incident and authorities have not shared the identities of the victims.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the aircraft was a Pacific Aerospace P750 and said it crashed while departing the airport; the FAA said air traffic services "were not being provided at the time" and that the plane was not required to be in communication because of the type of airspace it was flying in.
The model, known as the Pacific Aerospace 750XL, is a single-engine turboprop that can carry as many as 17 skydivers, and FAA records show the crashed aircraft was manufactured in 2010; the private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, Dennis Jacobs said.
Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director, said, "It had just taken off and made a left turn," and added, "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 were able to put out the fire shortly after the crash, and Jacobs said first responders checked the area under the flight path and did not find anyone who might have tried to jump out before the crash.
Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were en route to the crash site to investigate, and the FAA said the NTSB is leading the investigation.
Anderson said the crash appears to be an accident and that Business Interstate 49 has been shut down in both directions for at least two days while the airport will be closed for an undisclosed period.
The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 and is roughly 65 miles south of Kansas City; another account put Butler about 50 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The small airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and skydiving operators, Ewing said.
Skydiving companies operate in the region eight or nine months a year, with the season usually starting in late March or early April and lasting into October or November. "There's been a whole history of skydiving accidents for inadequate maintenance and deficient safety culture," said Jeff Guzzetti, who used to be a crash investigator for both the NTSB and FAA.
Skydive Kansas City issued a statement after the crash.