A fun trip to a pickleball tournament turned into a nightmare in Texas, leaving five players dead after their small plane crashed in a fiery wreck late Thursday night.
The victims — all members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club — have now been identified as Seren Wilson, 19; Brooke Skypala, 45; Stacy Hedrick, 51; Justin “Glen” Appling, 37; and Hayden Dillard, 39. What was supposed to be a competitive getaway quickly became an unspeakable tragedy that has rocked their tight-knit community.
“Today, the Club has received terrible news that we all must mourn,” the organization shared in an emotional statement. “We’ve lost five members of our Amarillo pickleball family.”
Friends and fellow players flooded social media with heartbreak and disbelief.
“They were the greatest people I’ve ever met,” one wrote. “Every tournament I was at, they were there too. Always laughing, always having fun.”
Another added, “This breaks my heart. Praying for their families and everyone in the pickleball community.”
Wilson, just 19, was the youngest victim — a recent high school graduate remembered for her energy and kindness. Her former tennis team paid tribute, saying she “loved big” and brought encouragement to everyone around her.
The others also leave behind grieving loved ones and full lives cut tragically short. Skypala was a mental health counselor and mother of three. Appling worked as a sales manager, while Dillard, a real estate professional, leaves behind a daughter.
The group had been traveling aboard a twin-engine Cessna 421C, one of two planes heading from Amarillo to New Braunfels for the tournament. The second plane made it safely — but this one never arrived.
Authorities say the aircraft went down just after 11 p.m. near Wimberley, about 40 miles southwest of Austin, crashing into a wooded area and erupting into flames.
Flight data paints a chilling picture of the final moments. The plane suddenly made a sharp turn midair, then plunged from 13,600 feet to just 7,000 feet before disappearing from radar entirely.
Investigators are still trying to determine what went wrong.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are now digging into the crash, but answers may take time.
For now, a community is left grieving five lives lost in an instant — a trip that began with excitement and ended in heartbreak.
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