TRAGIC: Plane Carrying Pickleball Team Crashes In Texas

This is truly tragic.

A plane carrying a pickleball team has crashed in Texas.

On Thursday, a plane that was carrying the Amarillo Pickleball Club crashed just outside the city of Austin.

Authorities and emergency personnel quickly responded to the scene of the crash but declared there were no survivors.

The Associated Press reported more on the tragic crash and provided the full death toll:

A small plane carrying pickleball players crashed among trees in Texas Hill Country, killing all five people aboard, authorities said Friday.

The crash happened around 11 p.m. Thursday in Wimberley, a city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

“The pilot and four passengers on board were pronounced deceased on scene,” Sgt. Billy Ray told reporters.

An unidentified woman wiped her eyes and fanned her face with her hands as she stood behind yellow police tape near the crash site Friday afternoon. A man consoled her.

The plane, a Cessna 421C, took off from Amarillo and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport, according to the flight history. Aerial photos posted online by the Austin American-Statesman showed the aircraft destroyed in a wooded area.

Ray said federal authorities were leading the investigation.

Here are photos of the scene:

Plane carrying pickleball players crashes in Texas Hill Country, killing all 5 on board https://t.co/QHolhTcdRO

— CP24 (@CP24) May 1, 2026

A plane on its way to a pickleball tournament that crashed in Texas Hill County killed all five passengers on board, according to Amarillo Pickleball Club.

STORY | https://t.co/GAGdGeSbXl pic.twitter.com/sTlwIdDWTx

— WNDU (@16NewsNow) May 1, 2026

ABC 13 provided statements from locals who live near the scene where the crash occurred:

Stacey Rohr, who lives nearby, said she was in bed when she heard a crash and “felt everything vibrate.”

“It was so close I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” said Rohr, who immediately called her landlord.

Cecil Keith said he heard what sounded like an engine backfiring – “pow, pow, pow” – when the plane flew over his house moments before the crash.

“Something was definitely wrong,” he told KEYE-TV.

A second aircraft traveling in the area landed safely at the airport in New Braunfels, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of San Antonio, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said. A pilot said he and the Cessna pilot were flying there together, according to Air Traffic Control audio.

“I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot says on the recording.

A controller responds: “He started to move erratically and now his track is disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything’s all right with him.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The names of the members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club who were killed in the crash have been withheld from the public until their families are notified.