All 12 occupants dead in Missouri plane crash, state highway patrol says

12 dead in crash of plane on skydiving outing in Missouri, authorities say 0 seconds of 52 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? 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The Missouri-state-highway-patrol" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="134877" data-entity-type="organization">Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement that troopers were on the scene, assisting the Butler-police-department" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="146299" data-entity-type="organization">Butler Police Department & Bates County Sheriff’s Office. More Videos 0 seconds of 51 secondsVolume 90% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Pope Leo makes flight home from Tenerife aboard Spanish king's jet after plane problem delay 00:40 Auto1080p1080p720p540p360p270p180p 00:00 00:51 00:51 More Videos Close 2 of 5 | A plane carrying passengers planning to spend a sunny afternoon skydiving crashed Sunday in Missouri, killing all 12 people aboard, authorities said. 3 of 5 | Emergency vehicles parked outside the Butler-memorial-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="146301" data-entity-type="location">Butler Memorial Airport after a plane crash in Butler, Mo., Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann) 4 of 5 | Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson speaks at a press conference about the plane crash at Butler-memorial-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="146301" data-entity-type="location">Butler Memorial Airport, in Butler, Mo., Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann) 5 of 5 | This video frame grab provided by KMBC-TV shows an aerial view of the crash scene near the Butler-memorial-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="146301" data-entity-type="location">Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Mo., Sunday, June 14, 2026. (KMBC-TV via AP) Updated 9:48 PM MESZ, June 14, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Butler, Mo. (AP) — A plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers planning to spend a sunny afternoon skydiving crashed Sunday in Missouri, killing all aboard, authorities said. The Missouri-state-highway-patrol" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="134877" data-entity-type="organization">Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement that troopers were at the crash site, assisting the Butler-police-department" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="146299" data-entity-type="organization">Butler Police Department & Bates County Sheriff’s Office. The crash occurred near the Butler-memorial-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="146301" data-entity-type="location">Butler Memorial Airport. The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 people and is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the plane was taking people up to skydive. Emergency responders got a call that a plane was down and engulfed in flames around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, he said. “It landed in a field adjacent to the airport, but I think they’re shutting down the roadway just as a precaution,” Ewing said. A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lay in the grass near the airport with a massive line-up of emergency vehicles on the street beside it. Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were en route to the crash site Sunday afternoon to investigate, according to the Missouri State Patrol. Puerto Rican Day Parade marches through Manhattan with pulsing music and vibrant colors 1 MIN READ Former Senate leader Mitch McConnell is in the hospital, but little more information is known 1 MIN READ 15 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says US AI restrictions underscore risks of dependence 2 MIN READ The private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, said Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director. “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 were able to put out the fire shortly after the crash, Jacobs said, calling the scene “brutal.” First responders have checked the area under the flight path and did not find anyone who might have tried to jump out before the crash, Jacobs said. The Pacific Aerospace 750XL that crashed is a single engine turboprop plane model that’s popular for skydiving but has also proven useful for other uses, including cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The aircraft can carry as many as 17 skydivers and is capable of taking off and landing on short runways. The plane that crashed Saturday was manufactured in 2010, according to FAA records. The small airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and sky dive operators, Ewing said. Sky diving 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. Someone answering the phone at Skydive Kansas City declined to speak to a reporter from The Associated Press. It’s not yet known what factors may have contributed to the crash or caused it, Ewing said, and those details will be part of the investigation carried out by NTSB officials. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said that 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. ___ This story has been updated to correct that Jacobs called the scene “brutal.”