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 organizations.
Federal investigators were at the crash site, about an hour south of Kansas City, on Monday, 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 Monday 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 100 feet (30 meters) 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 65 miles (105 kilometers) 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, 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 organization 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.
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Associated Press reporters Kristen M. Hall in Kansas City, Missouri; Cathy Bussewitz in New York; Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.

President Trump wanted the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial to look pristine. Photosynthesis had other plans.
Days after the Trump administration completed a $14.2 million project to coat the Reflecting Pool’s concrete floor with dark blue waterproofing material, clumps of algae dotted the surface on Sunday and Monday, giving parts of the pool a green hue.
The pool was gleaming last week after the work, which was meant to fix two longstanding problems, leaks and algal blooms, before the country’s 250th birthday. But after several hot and humid days, the algae returned in force.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, which manages the site, said the project involved the successful installation of a water-treatment system called a nanobubbler. She said the algae would be gone soon.
“Due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak,” the spokeswoman, Katie Martin, said in an email. “We thank President Trump for fixing the Reflecting Pool for good.”
Last week, Ms. Martin had said the algae was “residual” and came from supply lines that sat dormant during the renovations.
President Trump said last month that the pool had been “filthy” and “dirty” for years. He said his changes would make the site “beautiful,” adding that the waterproofing material on its floor was a color called “American flag blue.”
To repair the pool, Mr. Trump’s administration awarded no-bid contracts to two handpicked vendors, bypassing a legally required process of seeking competitive bids because of what officials declared an urgent need. (The administration said the urgency was justified because of the nation’s 250th birthday party.)
The first no-bid contract went to a Virginia-based company, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, to seal leaky joints between the pool’s concrete slabs and coat the slabs with the dark blue waterproofing material. The second went to Ohio-based Greenwater Services to add an upgraded water-purification system.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings completed its work on June 4, and the pool was refilled soon after. Greenwater Services has also finished installing the new purification system.
On Sunday, workers with the National Park Service waded in the Reflecting Pool and appeared to skim some algae blooms off the surface. They were joined by workers with Pearl Purity Water Solutions, a Maryland-based company that has held a contract since 2021 to treat the pool’s water.
Representatives for Greenwater Services and Pearl Purity Water Solutions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Monday, as Park Service workers continued to clear the algae, throngs of tourists strolled around the pool in the summer sun. Bonnie Garvin, a teacher from Monticello, Ga., said she was unbothered by the green hue.

The next robotic lander to launch to the moon was revealed today (June 15) by Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic.
NASA chose Astrobotic’s Griffin vehicle to be the lander for its Moon Base II mission, part of the first phase of the agency’s efforts to establish a permanent lunar outpost. Astrobotic is targeting late 2026 to launch Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1), which will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The lander is contracted to deliver several research and technology demonstrations to the surface of the moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, including the FLIP (Flex Lunar Innovation Platform) rover from California-based company Astrolab.
“This is the first infrastructure-class lander going to the surface of the moon,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said during today’s event. “This lander will be part of the cornerstone of building the moon base on the surface of the moon, so I’m just so excited for it to be here today, and to wish it good travels as it heads out to JPL [NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory] for environmental testing,”
Integration at the company’s headquarters is expected to wrap up this week, with a number of payloads already incorporated onto the lander. Those payloads include Astrobotic’s own BEACON CubeRover, in coordination with Mission Control Space Services, and the European Space Agency’s LandCam-X, designed to help improve lunar landing precision and reliability on future missions.
Griffin-1 is scheduled for transportation to JPL in California next week for environmental testing, ahead of its delivery to Florida in the coming months, where the FLIP rover will be integrated into the lander prior to launch.
The mission will be the second from Astrobotic that shoots for the moon, after the debut of the company’s smaller Peregrine lunar lander in January 2024. Peregrine experienced a propellant leak shortly after deploying into space, however, and never reached its destination.
In addition to being the company’s first lander, Peregrine Mission One was the first-ever NASA CLPS flight. Through CLPS, NASA is partnering with commercial companies to provide lunar landers to deliver technology demonstrations and other payloads to the surface of the moon. The program aims to support NASA’s Artemis program, through which the agency plans to establish a lunar base and eventual sustained human presence on the surface.
Griffin is considerably larger than Peregrine. Though both landers stand roughly 6 feet (2 meters) tall, Griffin is nearly twice as wide, measuring nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters) across. Astrobotic advertises the big lander’s payload capacity to the lunar surface at 1,377 pounds (625 kilograms), with a cost of $544,000 per pound ($1.2 million per kilogram).
In total, Griffin-1 will carry 10 payloads from six separate nations, with four additional NASA payloads aboard FLIP. Some of the smaller payloads on the Griffin lander include a plaque from the Nippon Travel Agency, with messages collected from children in Japan to send to the moon; the Galactic Library to Preserve Humanity from Nanofiche that’s carrying a super miniaturized repository of literature and art; and a MoonBox capsule that will deliver items from around the world submitted to the Tokyo-based company Astrobotic on micro SD cards.
“So, this is going to be chock full of interesting science and data that’s going to be coming back from the moon, and some of the best imagery we have seen yet coming back from the surface,” Thornton said.

BUTLER, Mo. — Loved ones and friends continued to mourn the 12 victims who died Sunday morning when a skydiving plane crashed after takeoff from Butler Memorial Airport.
On Monday, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Butler to join Federal Aviation Administration investigators to start piecing together information about the crash.
As they continue their work, we’re learning more about the 11 skydivers on the plane and the pilot at the controls.
Friends, loved ones remember victims killed in Butler skydiving plane crash
RELATED | ‘It’s heart-wrenching’: Butler community mourns after deadly plane crash
RELATED | ‘Everybody on that plane was somebody that I know’: Kansas City skydiver remembers plane crash victims
This story will be updated as we learn more.
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Michael Shanahan
One of Michael Shanahan’s friends, Brandon Carney, said Shanahan was among those who died in Sunday’s plane crash. Carney said Shanahan was on his way to his 23rd tandem jump.
“He was a humble human and a very dedicated native to the city,” Carney said in a GoFundMe post on Monday. “He loved his friends, and this man worked very hard.”
Carney said Shanahan was getting ready for retirement after a 36-year career as part of the Kansas City Sheet Metal Union Local No. 2.
“The world lost an amazing man yesterday,” Carney said. “I have no other words than please keep these children and this family in your prayers because this man will truly be missed.”
Jennifer “Jen” Sharp
The United States Parachute Association told KSHB 41 News on Monday that its Director of Technology, Jennifer Sharp, was among those killed in Sunday’s crash.
“Jen was a remarkable force whose passion for the skies was matched only by her dedication to the people in our sport,” USPA Executive Director Albert Berchtold said in a news release Monday. “Her loss leaves an unfillable void in our office, our community, and our hearts. We are incredibly grateful for the years of laughter, innovation, and friendship we shared with her.”
Sharp had worked with USPA for nine years, working to advance the sport, supporting USPA membership and strengthening the organization.
“She spent her career ensuring that our community stayed connected, safe and forward-looking,” the organization said.
Rhonda Vuletich, a classmate of Sharp’s from Kansas State University, said the two lived on the same floor of West Hall and both majored in music.
Vuletich started her freshman year in 1988, a year ahead of Sharp, who would have begun her freshman year in 1989.
She met Sharp when she went by Jennifer Bennett.
Both were also members of the marching band, where Sharp played the marimba on the drumline.
Vuletich, who lives in South Carolina, said she and Sharp kept in touch via Facebook after college.
“She was just the kind of person you could not miss,” Vuletich said. “If you saw her, you wanted to be her friend.”
Vuletich said Sharp discovered skydiving during her freshman year and never looked back.
“She went on her first dive, I think it had to be her freshman year because I remember talking about it with her in the dorm, and I remember her coming back and being so excited that she had done it,” Vuletich said. “She was just in love. She absolutely loved it and couldn’t wait to do more of it. And so, off she went.”
Even after graduation, she says Sharp’s passion took off.
“She took it from something she enjoyed and made a life out of it,” Vuletich said. “She knew the risks that were there, but she loved it so much.”
Vuletich remembered Sharp as someone whose talent and spirit were impossible to forget.
“She was just very, very good. She was very talented on the marimba,” Vuletich said. “She was just such a great person. Such a warmhearted, good person. To know her was to love her, absolutely. You don’t get that many people that are just that through and through good and smart and talented and just a good spirit about her.”
Dave Hershberger
The North Kansas City School District notified families at Oak Park High School and Antioch Middle School on Monday that orchestra teacher Dave Hershberger was among those who died Sunday in the crash.
“Mr. Hershberger was a beloved member of the Antioch and Oak Park family and was not only a passionate educator and talented musician, but one of the kindest humans. Mr. Hershberger has inspired so many of our students through his love for music and the way he treated others every day. He modeled appreciation and genuine care for everyone who was lucky enough to know him.”
“On behalf of everyone in our community, we have shared our condolences with Mr. Herberger’s family. We are working closely with them to provide support where we can.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.

Under-16s will be banned from social media from early 2027
Millions of children in the UK will be forced off social media after the government announced it would ban under-16s from accessing a range of platforms.
Apps including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram will become inaccessible for children, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said.
“We hope to pass regulation before Christmas,” he said, with the ban coming into force in spring 2027.
Tech companies including Meta, Snapchat and YouTube warned a blanket ban would move children into more unsafe online environments
“I am not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children, and that is why this ban must happen, and why this ban will happen,” Sir Keir said.
The government is yet to release the full list of platforms affected, but said YouTube, Facebook and X would also be included.
The government said over-16s may have to verify their ages to continue using social media platforms.
But it said many adults would not need to do checks because their accounts are already over 16 years old, had a credit card linked or their email address was already verified in other ways.
Messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and Signal will not be banned, and neither will online gaming platform Roblox.
But certain features will be restricted for under-16s, such as livestreaming and strangers being able to contact children.
YouTube Kids is also exempt from the ban.
The government will also look at restrictions on some functionalities on social media, such as infinite scroll and curfews, for 16 and 17-year-olds.
Intimate and sexual chats with AI will also be banned for under-18s.
The ban follows growing pressure from campaigners to make the online world safer for young people, and is part of an international trend of governments restricting who can access social media.
“This social media ban won’t solve every problem overnight, but it is a major step forward,” said Joe Ryrie, co-founder of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign group.
“Millions of children will now get a few more years to grow up before entering online environments that were never designed with their wellbeing in mind.”
Snapchat said it shared the objective of online safety, but disagreed with a full ban.
Meta said a ban risked “isolating teens from online communities and information, and driving them to unregulated alternatives”.
YouTube said it has many protections in place for teens, and called itself “a vital resource for young people, educators and parents”.
“Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services,” its statement said.
TikTok said: “We will examine the details of the government’s measures, and we look forward to collaborating constructively with the government on this important issue.”
The BBC has contacted X for comment.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the measures would “take power away from the tech giants, who have had countless opportunities to keep children safe”.
She said she was clear that there was still much more to do for adults as well as children on social media, and that “today’s announcement is not ‘one and done’ or the end of the story”.
The ban was generally welcomed by a group of bereaved parents who say their children died as a result of a variety of harms on social media.
“I’m so glad now that this announcement has been made”, Esther Ghey told BBC Breakfast.
Her daughter Brianna was killed by two teenagers in 2023. One of the killers said she had become interested in “dark materials” online, including videos of murder and torture.
Ghey said the ban can “potentially save so many children’s lives”, but added there needed to be support in place for children who will not be able to access social media.
Rocio Cifuentes, the children’s commissioner for Wales, said a ban “was too simplistic a framing” – and that the accountability should have been on the platforms to make them safe for children to use.
Nicola Killean, the equivalent in Scotland, said the ban was not a “proportionate, effective, or enforceable way to protect children’s rights”, while Chris Quinn – Northern Ireland’s commissioner – said the ban “risks letting technology companies off the hook”.
England’s children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, meanwhile, called it “positive” – and said the ban should be extended to all children, including those up to the age of 18.
The government said it will use Australia’s definition of social media companies when deciding what to ban.
Australia banned social media for under-16s in December – though some research suggests children were able to get round the restrictions.
In April, a survey from the Molly Rose Foundation said 61% of 12-15 year-olds who had accounts on restricted platforms before the ban still had access to one or more accounts.
It received more than 116,000 responses to the survey. Some 90% of parents who responded backed a social media ban for under-16s, with more than 83% saying the benefits of social media were outweighed by the risks.
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