Gender reveal stunt gone wrong led to small plane crash in Texas

The Associated Press | Associated Press

Show Caption Hide Caption NTSB report: Gender reveal stunt led to plane crash A new report reveals a gender reveal stunt led to a plane crash.

TURKEY, Texas – A newly released report has found a September plane crash in West Texas occurred when the pilot’s crop-duster stalled out after dumping hundreds of gallons of pink water during a couple’s gender reveal celebration.

One passenger suffered minor injuries when the plane crashed Sept. 7 near the town of Turkey, about 260 miles northwest of Dallas. The pilot was not injured.

A National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday says the pilot dumped about 350 gallons of pink water from the aircraft, which then stalled and crashed.

Gender reveal parties have grown increasingly popular and elaborate, with smoke, confetti or treats in pink or blue to symbolize the soon-to-be-born child’s biological sex.

But what began as a lighthearted, intimate gathering with family and close friends has morphed into a spectacle with guns, explosives and wild animals to maximize shock value – with sometimes dangerous consequences.

Gender reveal parties turn deadly: The trend has killed, ignited massive fires

A homemade explosive that killed 56-year-old Pamela Kreimeyer in Knoxville, Iowa, on Oct. 26 was just the latest example.

The device was meant to spray colorful powder into the air, but instead exploded like a pipe bomb. Kreimeyer, who was standing 45 feet away, died instantly when a piece of debris struck her head.

Gender reveal 'pipe bomb': Woman dies after being struck by debris from explosion

More: Woman killed in gender reveal explosion was 45 feet away from device, died instantly

Two years ago, an off-duty Border Patrol agent accidentally started a 47,000-acre wildfire in southern Arizona when he shot a target filled with an explosive powder and blue coloring to signal that he was expecting a son.

Agent Dennis Dickey was charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to probation for triggering the fire, which caused more than $8 million in damage.

Gender-reveal fire: U.S. border Patrol agent sparked $8M Arizona wildfire with gunshot at party

And in separate instances over the last two years, couples announced their child’s sex by putting items into the mouths of their pet alligators – a watermelon filled with blue Jell-O in Louisiana and a pink powder-filled balloon in Florida – and even a hippo.

"There’s this huge pressure to publicize these once-private moments," says Carly Gieseler, an associate professor at the City University of New York’s York College, who has studied the rise of gender-reveal parties. "You get that outside validation that what you did was unique, that it was extra special. It drives celebrations to the extreme because you’re trying to do the thing that no one’s done before."

Contributing: Cydney Henderson

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