Five members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club were killed Thursday night when their small aircraft crashed in the Texas Hill Country, just miles from their destination, as they travelled to compete in a tournament near Austin.
The crash happened around 11 p.m. Thursday in Wimberley, a city about 40 miles southwest of Austin. “The pilot and four passengers on board were pronounced deceased on scene,” Sgt. Billy Ray of the Texas Department of Public Safety told reporters.
The Amarillo Pickleball Club identified those on board as Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling, and Hayden Dillard. “Today, the Club has received terrible news that we all must mourn in the loss of five members of our Amarillo pickleball family. Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers,” the club said in a Facebook post.
What happened
The plane, a Cessna 421C, took off from Amarillo and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport, according to its flight history. Aerial photos showed the aircraft completely destroyed in a wooded area on Round Rock Road, about a ten-minute drive northwest of Wimberley.
Preliminary information indicates the aircraft was travelling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact, according to Hays County Judge.
A second plane was travelling from Amarillo to the same tournament at the same time. Air traffic control audio captured the pilot of that second aircraft saying he had not heard from the downed plane. A controller responded: “He started to move erratically and now his track is disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything’s all right with him.” At least one pilot in the area confirmed the troubled plane’s emergency locator device had emitted a distress signal. The controller called 911. The second aircraft landed safely in New Braunfels.
It was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, according to the National Weather Service. Authorities said they do not believe there was a mid-air collision between the two aircraft.
Eyewitness accounts
Stacey Rohr, who lives nearby, said she was in bed when she heard the crash and “felt everything vibrate.” “It was so close I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” she said, and immediately called her landlord. Cecil Keith said he heard what sounded like an engine backfiring — “pow, pow, pow” — when the plane flew over his house moments before the crash. “Something was definitely wrong,” he told local television.
The human cost
Dan Dyer, president of the Amarillo Pickleball Club, said he had played many games with four of the five people who died. “I’ve handed them medals. They were excellent players. They were out to win some games,” he said.
Federal authorities are leading the investigation into the cause of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to take over the inquiry. The investigation is ongoing.