BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — Several of the skydivers killed when their plane crashed moments after taking off from a Missouri airfield were experienced jumpers and they belonged to a community with a unique bond, one friend said.
The plane carrying a pilot and 11 passengers crashed in a field and burst into flames Sunday, 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.
Kevin Payne, who had jumped with seven of the skydivers on the plane, said they were all different in almost 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.”