2 dead in plane crash near Deer Valley Airport
Two people were killed when a small plane crashed near Deer Valley Airport on Monday morning in north Phoenix, authorities said.
A single-engine, Acroduster crashed under unknown circumstances at about 6:50 a.m. on Seventh Street just short of the intersection with Deer Valley Road.
The pilot was identified as Theodore Rich, 54. Police said his passenger was 49-year-old Elaine Carpenter.
The biplane-style plane was an amateur-built, experimental aircraft, according to the plane’s registration.
Officials said one person inside the aircraft died at the scene, and the secreached ond occupant died at a hospital.
Two vehicles parked nearby appeared to have sustained damage from wreckage debris, but no one inside the vehicles was hurt.
One of Rich’s last Facebook post shows him, Elaine and a friend departing for Corona, California, on Saturday to pick up the newly purchased aircraft that crashed Monday.
The Federal Aviation Administration website shows the aircraft involved in the accident was formerly co-owned by Avi Maltzman and Gregory Hunter.
Hunter told The Arizona Republic that he knew the aircraft had been sold but that he did not know Rich or Carpenter. He said the transaction was handled by Maltzman, who could not be for comment.
Hunter said there was no sign of any problem with the plane in the three years that he co-owned the aircraft.
Seventh Street was closed at Deer Valley Road during the morning commute. It reopened around 1:45 p.m.
Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman, said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
It was the second fatal plane crash in Arizona in several days.
On Saturday, Camp Verde residents Glen Tenniswood, 68, and Ron Walker, 78, were flying in an experimental “Air Camper” fixed wing single-engine plane when it crashed southeast of Montezuma Castle National Monument, which is about 5 miles north of Camp Verde.