ARIZONA NEWS

87-year-old Arizona man dies after crashing single-engine plane into Texas strip mall

Nov 24, 2023, 12:26 PM | Updated: 1:40 pm

Arizona crash plane McDonald Plano Arizona...

Elzie Monroe McDonald, 87, of Arizona was killed when his single engine plane crashed in Plano, Texas, Nov. 21, 2023. (Facebook)

(Facebook)

PHOENIX — A pilot from Arizona who died when the small plane he was flying crashed and burned on the doorstep of a strip mall in Texas was aborting a landing, according to an incident report released Wednesday.

Plano, Texas, police on Wednesday identified the pilot of the single-engine Mooney M20 as 87-year-old Elzie Monroe McDonald, of Arizona. McDonald was the only person on board when the plane crashed Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash. But a Federal Aviation Administration incident report says McDonald was pulling out of a landing before crashing.

Photos from the scene showed the wreckage in a parking space next to a nail salon and diner just outside of the shopping center in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

The crash caused a parked car to catch fire. No one was inside the vehicle, and no bystanders were injured, authorities said.

According to a Nov. 18 article in The Wickenberg Sun, McDonald was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 883 in Aguila.

He received a Wright Brothers Master Pilot award from the FAA in February 2017.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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87-year-old Arizona man dies after crashing single-engine plane into Texas strip mall