A skydiving plane with 15 people on board went off the end of the runway at Cross Keys Airport in New Jersey Wednesday afternoon, June 26, 2025, leaving multiple people injured, local authorities confirmed.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time when the pilot of the aircraft reported an engine failure shortly after takeoff.
Passengers with injuries of varying severity
According to Andrew Halter, spokesman for the Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management, the pilot of the aircraft, a Cessna 208B Caravan, attempted to return to the airport to make an emergency landing, but failed to complete the maneuver.
The aircraft ended up crashing in a wooded area southeast of Philadelphia, very close to the perimeter of the airfield.
All 15 occupants of the plane – 14 passengers and the pilot – survived the impact, although many were injured.
Halter said the injuries ranged from minor to critical.
Among the passengers were people covered with aviation fuel, who were immediately decontaminated before being transported to medical centers.
Fourteen people were hospitalized after the accident, three of them in critical condition and airlifted by medevac helicopters.
The speed with which the rescue teams acted was key to avoiding a more tragic outcome.
“It’s amazing that, up to this point, we don’t have any fatalities to report,” Halter told a news conference. “The fact that everyone is alive, some with only minor injuries, is truly remarkable.”
Abrupt descent and background of the parachute plane.
Data from air tracking portal FlightRadar24 revealed that the aircraft descended abruptly at a speed of more than 3,000 feet per minute before radar contact was lost.
The aircraft belongs to a Virginia-based company and was leased by a skydiving center in Monroe Township, New Jersey.
This same aircraft had previously been involved in an incident in 2023, when the nose landing gear collapsed during a landing maneuver due to pilot error, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) records.
Despite having been repaired after that event, the device is now back at the center of an investigation.
Ongoing research and environmental measures
Currently, the accident scene is under the supervision of several entities, including the Monroe Township Police Department, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the NTSB itself.
These authorities are working together to determine the exact causes of the incident.
It has been confirmed that the aircraft suffered major structural damage.
Una vez que se concluyan las investigaciones, la aeronave será retirada del sitio y se procederá a realizar tareas de limpieza de los contaminantes esparcidos en el terreno, como combustible y aceite de aviación
Incidents of this type in the U.S.
These types of incidents serve as a reminder to the U.S. Hispanic community – particularly those involved in recreational activities such as skydiving – about the importance of demanding rigorous safety protocols and verifying the certification of the aircraft used.
The fact that all occupants survived reinforces the effectiveness of emergency response mechanisms at small airports, but also highlights the need to carefully review the technical and operational background of each aircraft used for commercial or sporting purposes.
Here is a video of the rescue of the injured in the parachuting plane.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
