All 11 aboard skydiving plane killed in crash near Nancy airport

A single-engine Pilatus PC-6 carrying skydiving participants crashed less than a minute after departing Nancy-Essey Airport in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, killing all 11 people on board, officials said. The victims included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers preparing for tandem jumps and the pilot.

Prefect Yves Séguy told reporters the aircraft suffered a malfunction and "fell almost vertically," narrowly missing nearby homes. > "Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties," he said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot visited the crash site, meeting local officials and emergency responders. Nunez posted on X that he felt "immense emotion" and praised the coordinated effort of firefighters, police, gendarmerie and civil security teams. He noted that a medico-psychological emergency unit was activated to support families and witnesses.

The investigation is being led by the Paris prosecutor's office and the Air Transport Gendarmerie's investigative unit, with France's Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses also on scene. > Tabarot described the incident as a "terrible tragedy" and said it was France's deadliest aviation accident involving a skydiving flight in about 30 years.

Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft banked left shortly after takeoff before crashing about 300 yards from the runway, near residential houses. The crash follows a similar skydiving accident in the United States that killed 12 people weeks earlier.