1 dead as small aircraft crashes, bursts into flames in Plano parking lot, authorities say

PLANO — One person is dead after a plane crashed and burst into flames Tuesday in a Plano parking lot.

Plano police and Plano Fire-Rescue responded about 6 p.m. to the 6500 block of West Park Boulevard, near Mama’s Daughters’ Diner, at the intersection of Midway Road and Park Boulevard.

Plano Fire-Rescue spokesman Daniel Daly said the aircraft crashed into a parking lot near the restaurant. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was a single-engine Mooney M20, and only the pilot was onboard.

At an 8 p.m. news conference, Daly said the pilot was killed in the crash. He had no identifying information on that person.

“The plane did not actually land on or collide with anything,” Daly said at the conference. “However, the fire resulting from the crash did involve an unoccupied parked vehicle.”

The plane crashed less than half a mile from Air Park-Dallas Airport. Plano is a city of nearly 300,000 people about 25 miles north of Dallas.

Jason Janik, a special contributor to, was cleaning up his booth with his wife Tuesday afternoon at the Plano Antique Mall in the vicinity of the area. He was placing belongings in the back of his car when he heard the sound of a loud airplane engine overhead, he said.

As Janik looked up a little after 5:40 p.m., he saw the plane flying really low in the direction of the mall. He attempted to take out his phone and before he could do so, he said the plane took a nosedive.

“Not more than half a second later, all of a sudden, there was a big explosion,” Janik said.

Janik and his wife rushed to see if there was anyone to save. Meanwhile, he said, people exited nearby businesses and headed toward the crash.

When he arrived at the remains of the plane, Janik said, the cockpit was crushed. The aircraft appeared to have crashed near a car, and the wreckage was spewed along the sidewalk in front of Nail Addictions, adjacent to the restaurant.

“It was so powerful that the paint on the side of the car already started to bubble within seconds,” Janik said.

As the sound of a helicopter flying overhead echoed through the parking lot of the shopping center at the corner of Park Boulevard and Midway Road on Tuesday night, more than a dozen bystanders could be seen looking toward the site of the crash, which was blocked off by police vehicles and emergency tape.

The mangled remains of the plane burned next to an SUV that appeared to have been damaged.

Brandon Diasdado, 19, who works in the area, said he was inside a business at the shopping center when he heard a loud boom and looked outside.

”I just saw flames rise up,” Diasdado said.

Alexander Gonzales, 64, said he was driving in the area when he saw the plane going down. Gonzales said he saw the plane’s right wing “dip down” before he lost sight of the craft.