Authorities: Pilot, passenger killed when their small plane hit building in Texas Panhandle

2 die when small plane hits building in Texas

AMARILLO, Texas — A twin-engine plane crashed into a concrete storage building in the Texas Panhandle city of Amarillo on Wednesday, killing the pilot and his passenger, authorities said.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Gabriel Medrano said the two Amarillo men died when their plane went down in the southeast part of the city shortly after 7 a.m.

Medrano said the plane left the Tradewind Airport, located less than a couple of miles from where it crashed, a few minutes before it went down. A witness at the scene told investigators it sounded as if the plane’s engine’s stalled, he said.

The cause of the crash was being investigated, Medrano said. He identified those killed in the crash as pilot William Runyan Ellett, 59, and passenger Andrew Arnold Hanson, 57.

Most of the wreckage was on the ground near the building, but part of the plane remained atop the 30-foot-tall structure.