Small plane crash near Nancy kills 11 at parachuting school

A Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 Turbo Porter used by Tandemotion Parachutisme crashed moments after takeoff from Nancy-Essey airport in Tomblaine, killing the pilot and 10 parachutists. French authorities opened a technical investigation, with local prosecutor Amaury Lacote treating the case as an aviation accident inquiry.

The plane went down in a residential area near a shopping center, about 300 meters from the runway, after climbing away from runway 21. Yves Seguy, the prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said the aircraft plunged almost vertically and warned that a slightly different impact point could have brought collateral casualties among nearby homes and pedestrians. The wreckage landed close to a bike path.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said some of the trainees’ family members were at the airport and watched the crash unfold. Mathieu Klein, the mayor of Nancy, said the victims died in full view of loved ones who had come to film the jump. Emergency crews cordoned off the area, and medical and psychological support teams were sent to relatives and witnesses gathered at the airfield.

The flight was part of a training operation, not a commercial route. The dead were five instructors and five student parachutists. The students were nurses from the local area preparing for their first skydive. There were no bystanders among the victims.

Witnesses described the plane’s engine noise stopping suddenly while it was still climbing, with no visible fire or explosion before impact. Investigators will spend the first 48 hours sorting through the aircraft’s maintenance record, its technical condition, the takeoff sequence, and the reason it dropped almost straight down so soon after leaving the runway. They will also examine the skydiving school’s procedures.