NTSB report says Kxan plane broke apart over Wimberley

kxan: A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report says the Cessna 421C carrying four pickleball players to a Texas tournament broke apart midair before crashing in Wimberley on April 30, 2026. Pilot Justin Appling had reported anti-icing problems and said an airspeed instrument had “iced up.”

The plane took off from Amarillo at 9:10 p.m. and crashed about 11 p.m. Five people died: Appling, Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson. The report was released Friday, May 1, 2026.

Appling's radio calls

Appling told air controllers he was using backup gauges after the airspeed instrument iced up. He was cleared to descend to 4,000 feet and said he wanted to get to a lower altitude to try to “warm back up.” His last radio transmission came at 10:59 p.m., just before the crash.

Over the final 15 minutes before impact, the plane flew at altitudes where temperatures hovered just below freezing. The Cessna then made a series of descending left and right turns before it hit the ground.

Wimberley debris field

Investigators found pieces of the plane scattered over a 1.25-mile debris field, and the distribution was consistent with an inflight breakup. Wimberley is about 40 miles southwest of Austin, where the group was headed for a tournament.

Another plane traveling with the group landed safely in New Braunfels. The preliminary report adds the first detailed federal findings from a crash that killed five people while they were traveling together to a tournament near Austin.

Weather near the crash

Shortly before the crash, it was mostly cloudy in the area, and a thunderstorm was reported two hours later. The report ties the flight's anti-icing problems, the freezing temperatures and the debris field together in the same accident sequence.

For the families of the five people who died, the immediate answer is now in the flight record: the plane broke apart in the air before it reached the ground.