A witness of a deadly plane crash that killed 11 skydivers and the pilot said "the plane just completely like shattered with the ground" upon impact.

The private plane went down on Sunday just after takeoff from Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri, which is about 60 miles south of Kansas City.

"It was completely perpendicular with the wings to the sky, to the ground, going fast. And then they just hit the ground," said Bailey Reed, who saw the crash happen. "The ground and trees around it exploded and it just lit up in flames." 

Reed said the people on board the plane would not have had a chance to deploy parachutes.

"They didn't have time to jump," she told CBS News. "They were so low to the ground the parachutes wouldn't have deployed and there was no way anyone could have jumped and survived that."

Family members of the people on the plane were also there to cheer on their loved ones and saw the tragedy unfold.

"Our hearts go out to them," said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson. "There's nothing we really can say to make it better."

Crash investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

"Key to this investigation is going to be looking at the mechanical condition of the airplane itself, the engine," said Robert Sumwalt, the former chair of the NTSB.

Butler is a small town and the airport there did not have a tower that was in communication with the pilot.

The NTSB will "be looking at the training of the pilot. They'll also be looking at the FAA oversight to see if the FAA was providing adequate surveillance over this particular operation," Sumwalt said. "Since this is a parachute operation and not a commercial operation, oftentimes the FAA doesn't have the resources to oversee small operations like this."

The plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City.

"This is a devastating loss for everyone connected to Skydive Kansas City and for the wider skydiving community. Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost," the group said in a statement. "At this time, the focus of the management and ownership team is to assist investigators and to support the staff and the broader skydiving community. The entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit."