Five pickleball players from Amarillo died when their chartered plane crashed in the Texas Hill Country late Thursday, cutting short a trip that was to culminate in a weekend of friendly competition at a popular local club. The Cessna 421C, a small twin‑engine aircraft, went down among the trees in the rural town of Wimberley around 11 p.m., killing all five people on board, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Friday.
Sgt. Billy Ray, a department spokesperson, told reporters that the pilot and four passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The victims’ names were not immediately released, but the Amarillo Pickleball Club identified those killed as members of the club who had flown from Amarillo to a tournament at the Cranky Pickle in New Braunfels.
Dan Dyer, the club’s president, said he had played many games with the players and had handed them medals during their competitive runs. “They were excellent players. They were out to win some games,” Dyer said. “Some people get the bug; others don’t. But once they do, they’ll travel for a tournament.”
The tournament was canceled Friday and a prayer will be said before Saturday’s play to honor the victims, according to Martin Robertson, the head pro at the Cranky Pickle. “We’re very heavy hearted, heartbroken from this,” Robertson said. “The pickleball community is very tight knit. Everybody knows everybody.”
Witness Stacey Rohr, who lives near the crash site, told the Associated Press that she was in bed when she heard the crash and felt the house vibrate. “It was so close I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” she said, recounting that she immediately called her landlord.
Federal aviation authorities, including the National Transportation Safety Board, are leading the investigation. Sgt. Ray said a second plane that had departed Amarillo for the same tournament landed safely at New Braunfels National Airport.
Air traffic control recordings captured the moment the troubled plane vanished from radar. “I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot of the second aircraft radioed, according to audio obtained by the AP. A controller responded that the Cessna’s track “started to move erratically” before disappearing from the scope, and that its emergency locator had emitted a distress signal. The controller called 911 as the plane went down.
The National Weather Service said it was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash and a thunderstorm moved in about two hours later. Both Wimberley, with a population of about 3,000, and New Braunfels, with about 116,000 people, are popular tourist destinations in the Texas Hill Country.