Arizona pilot dies in Texas plane crash

An 87-year-old Arizona pilot died Tuesday after the small plane he was flying crashed into a Texas parking lot and burst into flames.

Elzie M. McDonald was flying to see his family in Dallas in his Mooney M20, a single-engine plane, when he crashed just before 6 p.m. less than a mile away from Plano Air Park-Dallas Airport.

The plane crash-landed in the parking lot of a shopping center that houses a restaurant, which was damaged in the crash, according to a WFAA-TV report from Dallas.

In a Wednesday update, Brian Rutt, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said the plane crashed and caught fire. No one on the ground was injured, but an empty nearby vehicle also caught fire and was destroyed.

Officials are in the early stages of an investigation and are looking to see if the plane has any data recorder or communication device, according to Rutt.

McDonald was in communication with air traffic control before the crash; the conversation indicates that he was trying to land at the airport, but it was too dark to do so. McDonald reportedly said he was looking to land at another airport in Addison, Texas, before communications went silent.

On Wednesday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration released its preliminary report that stated the crash happened while the pilot was “executing a go-around.” No other information has been released.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona pilot dies in Texas plane crash 2 days before Thanksgiving