Five pickleball club members die in Texas plane crash
A Cessna airplane carrying four members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club and a pilot crashed Thursday night in Wimberley, Texas, killing all five people on board. The single-engine plane went down at 11 p.m. in a wooded area along Round Rock Road, about 40 miles southwest of Austin. "The pilot and four passengers on board were pronounced deceased on scene," Wimberley police Sgt. Billy Ray told reporters.
The victims were en route to a pickleball tournament. Dan Dyer, president of the Amarillo Pickleball Club, said he had played many games with four of those killed. "I’ve handed them medals. They were excellent players. They were out to win some games," Dyer said. "Every weekend there are dozens of tournaments. Some people get the bug; others don’t. But once they do, they’ll travel for a tournament."
A second plane from Amarillo bound for the same event landed safely at the airport in New Braunfels, about 30 miles northeast of San Antonio. Air traffic control audio captured a pilot reporting no contact with the troubled aircraft, which had begun moving erratically before disappearing from radar. Its emergency locator transmitter activated, prompting a 911 call from controllers. Federal authorities are leading the investigation. The National Weather Service reported mostly cloudy conditions in the area shortly before the crash, followed by a thunderstorm two hours later.
Wimberley, population about 3,000, and nearby New Braunfels, population about 116,000, draw tourists to the Texas Hill Country.
