Several of the skydivers killed when their plane crashed moments after taking off from a Missouri airfield were experienced jumpers, including a leader at one of the sport's biggest organisations.
Federal investigators were at the crash site, about an hour south of Kansas City, a day after the plane carrying a pilot and 11 skydivers slammed into a field and burst into flames, killing all on board, authorities said.
Some family members of those who died were at the airport to watch the jump and witnessed the crash, said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson.
Authorities have not released the victims’ names, but friends and colleagues began paying tribute.
The United States Parachute Association, skydiving's governing body, said its technology director, Jen Sharp, was among those killed.
“Jen was a remarkable force whose passion for the skies was matched only by her dedication to the people in our sport,” said Albert Berchtold, the organization’s executive director.
Sharp taught skydiving instructors, wrote educational materials and made 6,800 jumps since her first one in 1989, according to her website.
She once jumped into Denver's Coors Field ballpark while dressed as the queen of England and was part of the Everest Skydive in the Himalayas, her site said.
Kevin Payne, who had jumped with seven of the skydivers on the plane, said they were all different in nearly every way, except that they were all brought together as a “sky family.”
“There is a joy and peace and freedom to what we do. That’s what most people never understand,” Payne, of Parkville, Missouri, wrote in an email. “It’s not about the adrenaline. It’s about really flying together with your family in that brief, exquisite instant that people who live their lives on the ground will never understand.”
It will be about a month before the National Transportation Safety Board issues a preliminary report, but weather did not appear to be a factor.
Investigators had interviewed some witnesses by yesterday afternoon but not the company's owner, NTSB Vice Chairman Michael Graham said.
The plane didn’t have a “black box” like those that record flight data on commercial planes, but investigators will examine the wreckage for other clues, he said.
Skydiving plane went down soon after taking off
Witnesses say the plane was roughly 30m from the ground when it made an abrupt left turn before crashing.
It appeared to be losing power, and the pilot may have been trying to reach a highway to land when the plane stalled and went down nose first, said Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager of Butler Memorial Airport. On Monday, Graham said investigators are only beginning to interview all those witnesses and gather photos and videos of the crash, so it's too early to say definitively what happened.
The plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, he said. The crash site in the small town of Butler is roughly 105km south of Kansas City.
Skydive Kansas City said in a statement that its team and the skydiving community were in shock.
“This is a devastating loss for everyone connected to Skydive Kansas City and for the wider skydiving community,” the company said. “Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost.”
Plane made multiple flights over the weekend
The Pacific Aerospace 750XL — a single-engine turboprop plane — is a popular model in skydiving because it’s designed for the sport and can quickly take parachutists to jumping altitudes while using short runways.
This particular aircraft, built in 2010 by New Zealand-based company NZAero, made nine successful flights in the days before the crash, including two on Sunday morning, according to FlightAware, a digital flight tracking company.
Red flags raised about skydiving oversight
The NTSB has voiced concerns in past crash investigations about whether skydiving operators get enough oversight and inspections to ensure their planes are safe and their pilots are well trained.
The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to adopt the NTSB's recommendations, but said Monday it established a committee in April that will recommend ways to increase skydiving safety and will consider the safety board's proposals.
“It’s always frustrating when we see things the FAA hasn’t acted on,” said Graham, of the NTSB. “And then we continue to see accidents in those arenas.”
The FAA said its inspectors are required to examine certain aspects of skydiving businesses every year, including several safety items related to the aircraft and pilots. But the NTSB said previously that those inspections failed to identify a twisted wing on a skydiving plane that later crashed in Hawaii in 2019 and killed 11 people.
Skydiving businesses can operate under the same FAA rules that apply to any small plane owner as long as their flights don’t venture more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) away. Those rules also cover tourist helicopters and other local flights because the FAA considers those operations less complicated than a charter company or airline.
But all aircraft owners are expected to follow the manufacturer's maintenance schedule and recommendations.
The United States Parachute Association said in a statement that Skydive Kansas City adheres to the safety standards set by the largest skydiving organisation in the world, including all FAA maintenance requirements.
The skydiving industry says it has a strong safety record. The association said that last year nearly 3.5 million jumps were completed and that 16 civilians died, the majority from human error.
SHARE ME