Pilot tried to pull out of landing before plane crashed on doorstep of Texas mall

A pilot who died when the small plane he was flying crashed and burned on the doorstep of a strip mall in Texas was aborting a landing, police said.Plano police on Wednesday identified the pilot of the single-engine Mooney M20 as 87-year-old Elzie Monroe McDonald, of Arizona, The Dallas Morning News reported.

A pilot who died when the small plane he was flying crashed and burned on the doorstep of a strip mall in Texas was aborting a landing, police said.

Plano police on Wednesday identified the pilot of the single-engine Mooney M20 as 87-year-old Elzie Monroe McDonald, of Arizona, The Dallas Morning News reported. McDonald was the only person on board when the plane crashed Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash. But a Federal Aviation Administration incident report on Wednesday says McDonald was pulling out of a landing before crashing.

Photos from the scene showed the wreckage in a parking space next to a nail salon and diner just outside of the shopping centre in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

The crash caused a parked car to catch fire. No one was inside the vehicle, and no bystanders were injured, authorities said.