VAN ZANDT COUNTY, Texas — The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report detailing how a man died in a plane crash in Van Zandt County last month.
Roger D. Turner, 60, of Edgewood, Texas, was fatally injured in the crash at about 6:13 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2023, the report states, when his small plane was involved in an accident near Canton.
The report states that a witness heard radio transmissions from Turner reporting that the plane was west of Thompson Field Airport. He further said that radio transmissions were normal, and he went outside to see the plane approach but couldn't tell if it was lined up with the runway from his vantage point.
The plane then hit trees and terrain before coming to a stop against a home. Its path was not in line with the runway, the report stated, and the plane was destroyed by impact forces.
"Post accident examination of the airplane flight control system confirmed flight control continuity," the report concludes. "The propeller and propeller spinner displayed rotational and torsional features consistent with engine operation at the time of impact."
Debris from the crash littered about 500 yards across the front yard.
“We saw tree limbs down and the aircraft and the emergency crews working to try to get him out of the plane," said Sen. Bob Hall at the time, who lives nearby and witnessed the aftermath.
The crash site is located some 60 miles east of Dallas, about two miles north of Canton and just a few hundred feet removed from the main airstrip in an aviation-oriented community called Tailwind Airpark.
“It’s amazing there was no fire because there was a lot of fuel that was on the ground that was leaking,” said Hall.
