KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — UPDATE [Mar. 30] — The Texas Department of Public Safety has identified the pilot killed in a plane crash yesterday afternoon as 72-year-old James Ireland of Fort Worth, Texas.
Ireland, according to FAA records, was a certified private pilot with a single-engine, fixed-wing, land aircraft rating — or Airplane Single Engine Land (ASEL).
ORIGINAL [Mar. 29] — The Texas Department of Public Safety is confirming one person has died as a result of a single-occupant plane crash near the Kaufman-Dallas County line.
The crash occurred at approximately 3:20 p.m. in the 15000 block of U.S. Highway 80, Texas Department of Public Safety Staff Sergeant Kyle Bradford told inForney.com.
A single-engine P-51D Mustang, with one person onboard, crashed under unknown circumstances shortly after departing from Mesquite Municipal Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Lynn Lunsford told inForney.com.
Bradford says witnesses reported seeing the plane, further described as a home-built replica, take a nosedive.
Emergency personnel were initially dispatched to the area of Lawson Road and East Scyene Road — which is located adjacent the Mesquite Municipal Airport — on reports of a possible plane down in the area.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were called to investigate the cause of the crash.
