Five pickleball players died when their small plane crashed in Texas, authorities said, as the tight-knit community mourned the loss of some of its most dedicated competitors.
A deadly journey to a pickleball tournament
The Cessna 421C twin-engine aircraft went down around 11:00 p.m. on Thursday in a wooded area near Wimberley, a town roughly 40 miles southwest of Austin, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The plane had taken off from Amarillo and was bound for New Braunfels National Airport, where the players were due to compete in a tournament at a venue called The Cranky Pickle.
All five people on board — the pilot and four passengers — were pronounced dead at the scene, said Sergeant Billy Ray of the Texas Department of Public Safety. A post-impact fire destroyed the aircraft.
Witnesses described a terrifying sequence of events. 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,” she said. Another resident, Cecil Keith, reported hearing what sounded like an engine backfiring — “pow, pow, pow” — just before the crash. Ivars Vilums, who lives a mile away, told investigators he heard the aircraft making strange, low RPMs and revving noises around 10:30 p.m. He later found debris, including an eight-foot piece of the plane’s tail, in his yard, suggesting the aircraft was breaking apart in the air.
Air Traffic Control audio captured the moment the plane began to behave erratically. The pilot of a second aircraft travelling from Amarillo to the same tournament — which landed safely in New Braunfels — said he had not heard from the stricken plane. A controller responded: “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.” At least one pilot in the area confirmed that the plane’s emergency locator device had emitted a distress signal, prompting the controller to call 911.
The National Weather Service reported that it was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, with a thunderstorm arriving two hours later. Weather observations from nearby San Marcos and Austin recorded low overcast ceilings, rain, and distant lightning around the time of the accident.
The five lives lost
The victims were named as Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling, and Hayden Dillard. All were members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club, which said in a statement: “Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers. Although many were friends to players, the loss is most horrible to their close family. And those families may need our help in these times.”
Dan Dyer, president of the club, said he had played many games with four of the five people killed. “I’ve handed them medals. They were excellent players. They were out to win some games,” he 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.”
The group included Seren Wilson, a graduate of Amarillo High School and a state tennis champion. Hayden Dillard was a professional pickleball player from Amarillo, whose recorded career win rate stood at 0.0 percent from one career match as of April 2026. Glen Appling and Hayden Dillard had won tournaments together in the past. Brooke Skypala was also a registered member of the pickleball community, listed with a DUPR identification number on the sport’s platform.
Martin Robertson, head pro at The Cranky Pickle in New Braunfels, said the tournament was cancelled on Friday. Organisers plan to hold a prayer before play resumes on Saturday to honour the deceased. “We’re very heavy hearted, heartbroken from this,” Robertson said. “The pickleball community is very tight knit. Everybody knows everybody.”
The Amarillo Pickleball Club was founded in December 2019, converting three tennis courts into nine pickleball courts by the spring of 2020. It sponsors two major tournaments each year along with social events, and charges a membership fee of $10 annually, $40 for five years, or $100 for a lifetime membership. Cindy Skypala serves as the club’s finance director.
Preliminary findings point to high-speed impact
A preliminary investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed that the aircraft “was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact” and that “there is no indication of a mid-air collision.” The investigation has now been taken over by federal authorities, including the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The NTSB’s investigation will focus on three areas: the pilot, the aircraft, and the operating environment. The agency is expected to release a preliminary report within 30 days of the accident, with a final report likely to follow within 12 to 24 months. The FAA will post a preliminary accident or incident report, typically on the next business day.
The Cessna 421C Golden Eagle III has a history of serious accidents. Records show previous fatal incidents involving the same type of aircraft in Decatur, Texas (2022); Canadian, Texas (2019); Houston, Texas (2022); Troutdale, Oregon (2024); and Tofino, British Columbia (2024). A particularly notable crash occurred in 2009 when a Cessna 421C went down in the Gulf of Mexico after penetrating a severe thunderstorm, killing the pilot and four passengers. Other non-fatal incidents include crashes in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (2011) and Monterey, California (2021).
Dan Dyer confirmed that a second plane carrying club members was travelling to the tournament at the same time but landed safely in New Braunfels. “I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot of that second plane told air traffic control, before the controller noted the lost radar track. The emergency locator device’s distress signal was confirmed by a pilot in the area.
