Loving and ‘adventurous’ skydiver was one of 12 killed in Butler plane crash
Nick Nash lived a life full of adventure and humor, a chorus of friends and family wrote in a series of tributes across social media.
Nash, an avid skydiver who often posted photos and videos of his adventures with his wife, also had a big heart and cared for his loved ones.
“If anyone knew Nick, they knew how adventurous he was, how loving, how caring and what family meant to him,” one family member shared on a tribute page on Monday.
Nash was one of 12 people — 11 skydivers and the pilot — who died Sunday when their plane crashed in Butler, Missouri, about an hour south of Kansas City. The fatal crash has rocked the small Missouri city and the tight-knit skydiving community as investigators seek to pinpoint its cause.
Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, cautioned that it was too early to tell what led up to the crash.
Authorities have not officially released the names of the victims of the crash. But nine other names have been identified through tributes online, including Jen Sharp, an internationally recognized skydiver and instructor, Marcus Miller, Matthew Cole Swope, Michael Shanahan, Dustin McKinney, Dane Cordes, Nick Nash, William Fischer, Blake Thacker and David Hershberger.
In the wake of the crash, friends and family shared a wave of tributes to Nash, his adventurous life and his loving relationship with his wife. Most of the posts highlighted his love for skydiving.
“This is heartbreaking,” one post said. “Nick Nash is one of the reasons I fell in love with the sport. He did the video for my first tandem back in 2019… he wasn’t falling he was flying around me! watching him fly just stuck with me he loved what he was doing.”
Another post referred to Nash as “the man you never saw without sunglasses.” Some family members also shared humorous stories, including his sister, who posted about how Nash teased her about her shoes after making his wedding guests take a long hike.
“Always downplaying the situation, getting us into predicaments, encouraging us until we made it out, and then roasting us relentlessly after,” his sister, Katie Markway, wrote. “I already miss him so much.”
Together, the series of social media posts about Nash paints a portrait of an adventurous and charismatic man who loved his family and skydiving.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 5:23 PM.
