ONE person has died after a plane slammed into a Texas shopping center and burst into flames.
Terrifying video from Plano, Texas, showed the aircraft on fire after it crashed near a diner and nail salon on Tuesday.
Corban GarciaA pilot has died after crashing a plane into a shopping center parking lot in Plano, Texas[/caption]
The small plane burst into flames after it went down about a half mile from a nearby airportInstagram/corbangarcia
Fox4First responders rushed to the scene and put out the fire, which scorched a van that was parked in the lot[/caption]
Plano police told The U.S. Sun that a single-engine aircraft crashed in a parking lot at about 6 pm.
The plane, a Mooney M20, didn’t land on or collide with anything as it slammed into the ground, police said.
However, flames from the burning wreck spread to a nearby van that was unoccupied.
Photos showed the charred remains of the aircraft alongside the burnt car after firefighters put out the fire.
“It was just flames everywhere. It was really bad,” witness Austin Selkin told local Fox affiliate KDFW.
Another witness reported seeing the plane flying really low near the shopping center before it started to nosedive.
“Not more than half a second later, all of a sudden, there was a big explosion,” Jason Janik told Dallas Morning News.
He was among passersby who rushed over to see if they could help, but the plane was fully engulfed by flames.
“It was so powerful that the paint on the side of the car already started to bubble within seconds,” Janik said.
The pilot was the only person onboard at the time of the crash, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The victim’s name has not yet been released and it is unclear where the plane was coming from when it went down.
A small airport, Air Park-Dallas Airport, is located about half a mile from the crash site.
The plane crashed in front of local restaurant Mama’s Daughter’s Diner in a busy part of town where a Starbucks, Raising Canes, and several other businesses are located.
The diner and surrounding businesses weren’t damaged.
The crash will be investigated by the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board.
Plano is located about 20 miles north of Dallas.
Corban Garcia/LOCAL NEWS X /TMXThe crash happened in a busy part of town where a Starbucks, Raising Canes, and several other businesses are located[/caption]
Fox4The pilot was the only fatality reported[/caption]
Fox4The FAA will investigate what caused the plane to go down[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
