A man lost his life after he stole a plane from an airport in Addison, Texas and then crashed it close to the Texas-Oklahoma border on Wednesday (Jan 24), said the officials.
In a statement, the Texas Department of Public Safety said that the plane, a Cessna 172, was stolen by a man from the ATP Flight School at Addison Airport, which is located 15 miles north of downtown Dallas.
The man, who was identified as 23-year-old Logan Timothy James by the DPS and was said to belong to Stokesdale, North Carolina, stole the plane and flew it more than 80 miles northeast toward Paris, Texas before the plane crashed near the state border, reported NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
National Transportation Safety Board investigates the incident
As per the information shared by Addison Airport, the plane departed from the airport at 6:53 pm on Wednesday (Jan 24). The DPS said that the plane crashed around 8:26 pm local time in an open field, which was 9 miles northeast of Telephone, Texas. They added that James was the only person present inside the plane.
The media reports did not clearly state if the pilot radioed for help or announced an emergency before the plane crashed. A recording by air traffic control earlier in the plane had captured a discussion regarding his plans.
“About right now you’ll probably realize that I’m not going to listen to y’all’s instructions and I’m just heading to East Texas,” James said, according to ATC recordings as reported by NBC News.
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“I’m going to pull the comm 1 circuit breaker and the comm 2 circuit breaker right here soon, as soon as I unkey the mic,” he was heard saying.
The DPS said that the National Transportation Safety Board, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s assistance, has been leading the investigation.
(With inputs from agencies)
