DALLAS, TX – A young man, aged 23, tragically lost his life after unlawfully taking a plane from a local flight school and crashing it in a remote part of Northeast Texas.
The deceased pilot was identified as Logan Timothy James, a resident of Stokesdale, North Carolina. He was declared dead at the crash site.
The fatal incident occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, in a location about nine miles northeast of Telephone, Texas, in the vicinity of the Red River in Fannin County. This information was confirmed by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
The DPS further revealed that initial investigations indicate that a Cessna 172 aircraft had been unlawfully taken from the ATP Flight School in Addison on the same evening. The aircraft was then flown in a northeastern direction for over 80 miles towards Paris.
James was the sole occupant of the aircraft at the time of the crash, and no other casualties were reported, according to the investigators.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation into the crash, with support from the Federal Aviation Administration, as per the DPS.