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Jul 24, 2008 3:40 pm US/Central
Midlothian Plane Crash Leaves 1 Man Dead
2nd Aircraft Fatality In Midlothian Within Past 2 Days
MIDLOTHIAN (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A local man died Thursday morning in a single-engine plane crash at a rock quarry in Midlothian.
The Ellis County quarry is owned by TXI, the largest cement producer in Texas.
According to Cpl. Charlie Morgan with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the 2004 Cozy Mark 4 was flying low to the ground when it dove into the quarry, located near the intersection of Hwy 67 and Ward Road. The crash left a quarter-mile of wreckage on the ground.
The victim, 58-year-old Jim Marshall of Grapevine, made his living flying Boeing 777 jets for American Airlines, but his passion was his experimental plane.
Marshall was the only one on board when his single engine experimental fixed wing aircraft crashed around 10:30 a.m. A witness said the plane appeared to be making an emergency landing, but hit a berm at the top of the quarry and nearly hit a bulldozer.
The witness reported hearing the motor sputter before impact.
Marshall was killed instantly. No one on the ground was injured.
Raymond Rogers, Marshall's neighbor, says his friend built the experimental plane in his garage. "I watched him build that thing over the years and he finally got to where he could move it out of his garage and moved it to Arlington out there. He had a hanger in Arlington," Rogers explained.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and DPS are investigating the cause of the crash.
The Thursday morning crash location isn't far from the site of a Wednesday afternoon glider crash that killed 85-year-old pilot Richard Johnson.
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