Eleven Killed in Skydiving Plane Crash Near Nancy.

Families watched in shock as the plane carrying their loved ones on what was meant to be a thrilling introduction to parachuting crashed on Sunday. The dead included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers and the pilot, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said it was France’s biggest aviation accident involving skydiving in about 30 years.

The plane banked to the left after takeoff and crashed less than a minute later near houses, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24. It had just taken off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on the outskirts of Nancy when it came down about 300 metres from the runway. Police cordoned off the crumpled wreckage.

The victims included the pilot, five student parachutists and five instructors. Some victims’ families were present near the airport and witnessed the crash. The parachutists were to have jumped in tandem, Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein told public broadcaster France Info.

Flight tracking sites identified the plane as a single-engine Pilatus PC-6, a small aircraft used to transport freight, passengers and skydivers. Tandem jumps are skydiving experiences in which two people, often an instructor and a novice jumper, are attached together for the descent. The minister declined to speculate on what caused the crash but said the plane dropped out of the sky suddenly.