ST. LOUIS — Investigators worked Sunday to determine what caused a plane carrying skydivers to nosedive soon after takeoff, killing six people, including a man who was a member of the U.S. Parachute Team and had made thousands of jumps.
Two others were badly injured. Witnesses told police that the plane, a DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, sounded as though it had engine trouble soon after taking off from the airport in Sullivan, about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said the plane apparently struck a utility pole, then landed nose-first into a tree less than 10 feet from a house. No one on the ground was hurt.