ADDISON, Texas – A plane was stolen from an airport in the town of Addison, Texas and crashed near the Texas-Oklahoma border on Wednesday. The individual flying the small aircraft is dead, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A single-engine Cessna 172 was taken from the ATP Flight School at Addison Airport. After the plane was stolen, it was flown more than 80 miles northeast toward Paris, investigators said, NBC 5 DFW reported.
The plane departed at 6:53 p.m. Wednesday, Addison Airport officials confirmed with NBC 5. It went down and crashed about 8:15 p.m. into a field near the Fannin and Lamar County lines. The male pilot, and sole person aboard the aircraft, was killed. He was identified Thursday by DPS as Timothy James Logan, 23, of Stokesdale, North Carolina.
It’s not immediately clear if the pilot declared an emergency or radioed for assistance prior to the crash. The circumstances behind the theft also remain unclear.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now leading the investigation into the crash and is being assisted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Texas DPS confirmed.