Missouri congressman seeks answers after skydiving plane crash kills 12

Kacen Bayless, The Kansas City Star on Jun 14, 2026

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U.S. Rep. Mark Alford was at home Sunday when he learned from his staff about a fatal plane crash in Butler that killed 12 people.

Alford, a Missouri Republican, said he rushed to the city, situated in Bates County about 50 miles south of Kansas City, to provide as much support as he could.

“I’ve been around a lot of tragedies,” Alford said Sunday. “This is a very dim scene right now and I’m just trying to provide the comfort that I can.”

Local officials have released few details about the cause of the crash in its immediate aftermath Sunday afternoon. The plane crashed while taking off at Butler Memorial Airport and was reported around 11:27 a.m. Eleven skydivers and the pilot were killed, county officials said.

Alford said he planned to speak with officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who were on the scene Sunday. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates transportation incidents, was “a couple hours away,” the congressman said Sunday afternoon.

“Whoever was up there and ended up dying in this tragedy,” Alford said, “we want to find out the answers as to exactly what happened.”

Alford pointed to the fact that Congress funds and oversees NTSB. He said he wanted to provide the investigatory agency with whatever resources it needed. He also wanted to learn how the agency was responding to victims of the crash.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was still notifying relatives of the victims, Alford said. Once that happens, he said he expected the victims’ names to be released publicly.

“Whenever there’s a crash like this, people want immediate answers and they’re not always available,” he said. “Even if something seems evident, that may not be the evident cause of a crash or a fatality or an incident.”

He cautioned that it may take a while before officials are able to release more information about the crash.

“This is just going to take some time,” he said. “I don’t know anything about the pilot, his or her experience level. I don’t know anything about the aircraft, how big it was, what its capacity was. None of those answers are out there right now.”

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(The Star’s Laura Bauer contributed reporting.)