Home-built airplane crashes on Phoenix street, killing pilot and passenger
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Both occupants of a small home-built aircraft died early Monday morning when the plane they were flying in crash-landed in a Phoenix intersection.
The aircraft, a single engine Acroduster, went down near the city’s small Deer Valley Airport at around 7 a.m. The pilot, Theodore Rich, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The passenger, identified as Elaine Carpenter, 49, was transported to a trauma center in critical condition. She later died, fire officials said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police did not say how the two were related. The investigation remains ongoing.
Fire officials told reporters the aircraft collided with a car as it crashed in a major intersection. The people in that vehicle initially refused hospitalization but later sought treatment for head pain.
Images showed the plane's wreckage in the middle of traffic lanes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Phoenix Fire Capt. Jake Van Hook said there were no flames reported after the crash, however, fuel did spill on the roadway.
Operations at Deer Valley Airport were not affected, City of Phoenix Aviation Department spokeswoman Heather Lissner said. The airport does not serve commercial airlines and has two runways, corporate-based aircraft and two flight training schools.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It is the second fatal crash involving a home-built plane in Arizona in three days. Crews recovered the bodies of two men Sunday in rugged terrain in Camp Verde, 90 miles north of Phoenix.
Sheriff's officials had found the wreckage of an experimental "Air Camper" model plane a day earlier. It was found by tracking a cellphone that belonged to one of the two men aboard.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.