Pilot critically injured when small plane crashes, burns west of Deer Valley Airport

A 50-year-old man was seriously injured in a small-plane crash in north Phoenix Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said.

The single-engine Mooney M20 crashed and ignited into flames near 31st Avenue and Deer Valley Road, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The intersection is a few miles west of the Deer Valley Airport.

The man, who was the pilot and only person on board, suffered second- and third-degree burns and was transported to an area hospital in critical condition, according to the Phoenix Fire Department.

Local television helicopter footage showed a slew of emergency vehicles in the area and what appeared to be the charred remains of a small plane.

The intersection remained closed late Tuesday afternoon.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, Gregor said.

It generally takes the board a year or more to determine the cause of a crash, he said.

Elton Dan, who lives near where the aircraft came down, said he heard the crash, ran out and saw the plane burning.

“I just heard a loud ‘thud.’ It shook my house,” Dan said. “I’d seen the smoke to the east, I ran out to here and the plane was already in flames.”

Dan said he saw some passersby attempting to pull the pilot to safety.

“A fire tornado started forming, it just rose up and then ‘boom,’ it exploded everywhere and scattered,” he said, adding there were several explosions afterward.