By Cindy Von Quednow, CNN
Aircraft down near the Butler, Missouri airport.
A pilot and 11 passengers were killed Sunday (local time) after their airplane crashed moments after takeoff at a western Missouri airport in one of the deadliest US skydiving plane crashes in decades, authorities say.
The plane had just taken off from Butler Memorial Airport at about 11.35am, the Federal Aviation Administration said, when it was unable to get visual altitude, made a sharp left turn and crashed about 300 yards from the runway, according to Dennis Jacobs, acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director.
It crashed in a field next to the airport and became engulfed in flames, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing told The Associated Press.
