Authorities said two people died Thursday when their small-engine plane crashed in north Texas.
According to KWTX , the plane, a two-seated, Soviet-era military trainer jet, went down at about 10:30 am Thursday, at the border of Kaufman and Ellis counties in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Little remained of the plane at the site where it crashed, leaving behind a large trail of charred ground and scattered wreckage.
The pilot of the plane has been identified as 77-year-old Carroll Noell Rather. The passenger was 30-year-old Lee Fisher Floyd. Both men were from Dallas. KHOU.com reports that Rather was flying Thursday to raise money for charity and that Floyd, a father of two, had won the flight in an auction.
The Federal Aviation Administration stated that “the aircraft departed the Lancaster Municipal Airport on what was described as a pleasure flight.”
“Very, very experienced pilot,” said Ron McCallum, a pilot who was also flying into Lancaster Regional Airport Thursday. He says he’s knew Rather for over ten years.
The cause of the accident is still undetermined and FAA investigators are assisting the National Transportation Safety Board in the ongoing investigation.
NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said the investigation — which will examine flight communications, radar data, weather, witnesses, and pilot flying and medical history, among other factors — could take more than a year to complete.
For more details on the Kaufman county, Texas plane crash, watch the videos below:
