Matthew Cole Swope had already beaten the odds once. As a child growing up in Independence, Missouri, he survived cancer when doctors gave him little chance of making it through.
That experience did not make him cautious. If anything, it pushed him in the opposite direction, toward speed, altitude, and the kind of freedom that only comes when you stop treating life as something fragile to be protected.
On Sunday morning, June 15, Swope was among 12 people killed when a single-engine plane carrying 11 skydivers and a pilot crashed during takeoff at Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri.
The aircraft, operated by Skydive Kansas City, failed to reach full power before going down around 11:30 a.m. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have opened investigations into the cause.
Swope was 39 years old. His mother, Dorcie Swope, confirmed his death on Facebook that same evening, writing that her youngest child died doing what he loved best. She asked for prayers for his three sisters, two brothers, and their entire family.
He Had Jumped 750 Times and Called It a Life Well Lived
Skydiving was not a casual hobby for Swope. He had logged roughly 750 jumps, putting him well into expert territory within the sport. Friends and family said he had made a conscious decision after surviving cancer to live without apology or hesitation.
His nephew Caden Bahl wrote online that Swope had come to terms with mortality early and had chosen to spend his years exactly as he pleased.
“He went out the way he’d have wanted to, doing what he loves,” Bahl wrote.
Those who knew him personally echoed that sentiment. Longtime friend Paul Hickman said that when he reached out to Swope after hearing about the crash and received no reply, he immediately knew something was wrong. “That was not normal for us,” Hickman wrote. “You were always one of the good ones.”
Away from the drop zone, Swope had built a solid career in information technology. At the time of his death, he was working as a Microsoft 365 Systems Engineer at KBP Brands in Leawood, Kansas, a role he had taken on in early 2025.
He had previously spent nearly a decade at GEHA Health in a series of progressively senior IT positions, starting in technical support and advancing to application engineer.
His Facebook page, filled with skydiving photographs, listed Independence, Missouri, as both his current city and hometown. He was single and had remained deeply connected to family and friends throughout his life.
Other victims identified among the 12 killed include Jen Sharp, Director of Technology for the US Parachute Association and a widely respected skydiving instructor; Dave Hershberger, a North Kansas City music teacher and KC Wind Symphony member; Dustin McKinney, a father and experienced skydiver; Nick Nash, an instructor known by the nickname Flying Spidey; Mike Shanahan; Dane Cordes; Marcus Miller; Will Fischer, 23; and Blake Thacker. Three victims had not been publicly named as of Monday.
Matthew Cole Swope is survived by his mother, his siblings, and his extended family. No formal memorial arrangements had been announced at the time of publication.
