GRAND PRAIRIE (1080 KRLD)- At least one person was killed and another was injured when a small plane crashed in Grand Prairie Monday afternoon. The FAA says the single-engine Wheeler Express CT crashed shortly after departing from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport. The crash happened near Highway 360 and Mayfield Road.
Officials are still trying to determine the number of fatalities caused by the crash.
"We know there are more than one," said Grand Prairie Fire Chief Robert Fite. "But until we see the flight plan and we confirm with family...we can't say two, three, or four. I can tell you there's more than one."
Drivers along Highway 360 were alarmed as the plane went down.
"We're thinking it's coming down for a landing somewhere, because the airport is nearby. It starts getting lower and lower, and then it starts losing control in a way," witness Catherine Lerond told NBC 5. "Then it clipped a telephone pole or light pole and it immediately crashed into the frontage road. It immediately blew up in flames."
Other witnesses had to pull off the road because of the crash.
"We didn't know what to do because of how it was coming at us. Everything happened very, very fast," a witness named Maryah told KRLD's Andrew Greenstein. "My dad pulled over and jumped out of the car. I was just too much in awe."
Maryah witnessed the plane impact other vehicles on the highway.
"He clipped a sign and the wings went under a woman's work car and spun her around," she said. The driver of that vehicle appeared to be OK, she said but the plane "blew up in flames, almost like shreds of paper."
The Grand Prairie Fire Department says one person on the ground did suffer minor injuries in the crash. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
"We do not know if this was an emergency landing or a catastrophic failure, we just don't know," said Grand Prairie Fire Chief Robert Fite.