New Jersey skydiving company says pilot tried emergency landing but plane went off runway into woods

MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — The pilot of a skydiving team encountered mechanical issues that prompted an emergency landing at a small New Jersey airport but could not get the plane stopped at the end of the runway, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Skydive Cross Keys said the plane was at an altitude of about 3,000 feet (900 meters) when the problem arose. Fifteen people were aboard the plane, and as of Thursday afternoon three remained in critical condition at a New Jersey hospital and five others were listed as serious.

The single engine Cessna 208B radioed about having engine trouble after takeoff and crashed on landing around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cross Keys Airport, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Philadelphia, authorities said. An initial report posted Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, with 14 passengers and one crew member, “crashed while returning to the airport after a runway excursion into trees.”

Monroe Township Police Chief John McBride said he was among the first rescuers to arrive at the crash, finding most of the victims “out of the plane and crawling on the ground.” Some were still trying to remove their parachutes.

Fire crews had to cut down trees to get to the wreckage, which McBride said was “completely mangled, just beyond repair. It just looked like a big pile of metal.” Less-injured victims were tending to more seriously hurt people. Some were screaming in pain and victims were covered in jet fuel.

“It was chaotic,” McBride said at a Thursday news conference. “Officers are hollering for assistance, trying to calm everyone down.”

Cooper University Hospital spokesperson Wendy A. Marano said all eight of the patients at the hospital in Camden suffered blunt force trauma, including injuries to their extremities and soft tissue damage. Township emergency officials had said three victims were taken to Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill, but the hospital's spokesperson said that while its emergency medical responders treated victims at the scene, none were taken to Inspira facilities.

Only one of the 15 people refused medical treatment. McBride said that when he told the man he had a facial injury and needed care, his response was: “It’ll be something cool to tell the ladies later.”

In its statement, Skydive Cross Keys said three people were unhurt and none of the injuries is thought to be life-threatening. It said the plane was up-to-date on scheduled maintenance and had recently been inspected by the FAA. The company described the unnamed pilot as experienced.

“The plane did try to circle back and attempt a landing, we are told, but was unsuccessful in that attempt,” Andrew Halter, with Gloucester County Emergency Management, said during a news conference Wednesday night.

“Just the fact that we have 15 people that are still with us here today, some with minor injuries, I think is fantastic and remarkable,” he said.

Halter said the aircraft is owned and operated by ARNE Aviation out of Virginia and leased to Skydive Cross Keys. A message seeking comment was left Thursday morning for ARNE Aviation.

Federal agencies are investigating the crash.

Scolforo contributed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Maryclaire Dale from Camden, New Jersey.

Skydive Cross Keys is seen in Gloucester County, N.J., on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Kaiden J. Yu/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

First responders work the scene at Cross Keys Airport in Gloucester County, N.J., after a skydiving aircraft went off the end of a runway and crashed into the woods Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Kaiden J. Yu/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

This image taken from video provided by WPVI-TV/6ABC shows emergency personnel working at the scene where a small skydiving aircraft went off the end of a runway and crashed in the woods at Cross Keys Airport in Gloucester County, N.J., Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)

New Jersey State Police direct traffic near Cross Keys Airport in Gloucester County, N.J., after a skydiving aircraft went off the end of a runway and crashed into the woods Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Kaiden J. Yu/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

This image taken from video provided by WPVI-TV/6ABC shows a small skydiving aircraft that went off the end of a runway at Cross Keys Airport in Gloucester County, N.J., on Wednesday evening, July 2, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)