Texas Pickleball Club Mourns Five Killed in Tournament Plane Crash

Five members of the Amarillo pickleball circle died when a Cessna 421C carrying them to a tournament in New Braunfels went down in the Texas Hill Country near Wimberley, turning a routine travel day into a wrenching loss for a tight-knit club built around regular play, road trips and tournament weekends.

Texas Department of Public Safety identified the victims as Justin Appling, Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson. Appling was the pilot, officials said. Hays County officials said first responders were called at about 11:05 p.m. Thursday night, and investigators said the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed at impact. The aircraft had departed from Amarillo and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. For the Amarillo Pickleball Club, the loss landed in the middle of the sport’s traveling culture, where friends often load up for sanctioned events and spend weekends together on courts far from home. Club members said the five were on their way to a tournament in New Braunfels, and tournament play was canceled Friday before resuming Saturday.

The crash also exposed how closely sport, work and friendship were tied together in the group. Dillard and Appling were co-owners of a manufactured home dealer in Amarillo, and friends described them as a familiar mixed-doubles pairing who had played together for years. Those same friends said the group was a regular presence at Pro Pickleball Association-sanctioned events in places such as Dallas and Las Vegas, a reminder that pickleball travel has become part of the sport’s social fabric as much as its competitive one.

The victims’ lives reached beyond the court. Seren Wilson was remembered as an accomplished tennis player and a 2022 University Interscholastic League team tennis state champion at Amarillo High School. Brooke Skypala had recently begun accepting counseling clients and said she worked with people navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges and life transitions. She also held a master’s of education from West Texas A&M University. Hayden Dillard, 39, was based in Amarillo, and a memorial service was planned for May 8, 2026.

The crash left the Amarillo club mourning more than four teammates and a pilot. It took five people out of a shared network of partners, friends and frequent travelers, and left one of the sport’s most social corners facing a loss that reached well beyond a single tournament weekend.