Overview
- A Pilatus PC‑6 used by a local parachuting school crashed near the Nancy‑Essey aerodrome on Sunday, June 28, killing all 11 people on board.
- The victims were the pilot, five skydiving instructors and five students who were preparing for tandem jumps.
- Investigators led by the Paris prosecutor have assigned the Air Transport Gendarmerie and forensic teams to a technical and criminal probe that is collecting wreckage, witness statements and flight‑tracking data.
- Several family members and other witnesses at the airfield saw the aircraft fall, prompting deployment of medico‑psychological support teams and visits by the interior and transport ministers.
- The crash follows a similar deadly skydiving flight in the United States in mid‑June and is likely to prompt scrutiny of private parachuting operations even though formal causes in such probes can take months to determine.