Missouri officials say all 12 occupants of a Pacific Aerospace 750XL were killed when it went down shortly after takeoff near Butler Municipal Airport just before noon on Sunday. The aircraft went down in a field and caught fire. The crash site is about 65 miles south of Kansas City. According to Aviation Safety Network, the aircraft was owned by Skyhi Aero LLC operating for Skydive Kansas City.
According to ASN the airport manager was quoted as saying “it had just taken off and made a left turn […] 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.” A police official said the plane only reached an altitude of about 100 feet before crashing. Local officials said it was the worst accident in the history of the municipally owned and operated airport. The NTSB and FAA are investigating and there should be more updates after they’ve done their initial assessment.
(FAA) said a Pacific Aerospace P750 crashed while departing the airport.
Skydive operations = unregulated passenger charter operations.