26-year-old pilot killed in South Lubbock plane crash

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Texas DPS has now identified the pilot who was killed when their plane crashed in a South Lubbock field near 98th & MLK on Friday morning.

26-year-old Tyler Blake Christie of Lavon, Texas died when his aircraft, a Beechcraft, Barron 58P twin engine, crashed shortly after it departed Lubbock Executive Airpark around 11:38 a.m.

DPS says the aircraft caught on fire during the crash and the pilot was unable to exit the plane.

The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a single plane crash on CR 2500 between 98th and 114th Street around 11:40 a.m. The crash happened just over a mile away from the Lubbock Executive Airpark.

The FAA issued the following statement following a request from KCBD:

A twin-engine Beechcraft Baron 58 crashed in a field south of Lubbock Executive Airpark in Texas around 11:40 a.m. local time Friday, March 17. Only the pilot was on board.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide any updates.

The FAA is expected to post a preliminary incident report in the near future.

KCBD’s Shaley Sanders spoke to Freddy, the witness who called in the crash.

Freddy described it as a small plane that barely missed utility lines before spinning and plummeting straight down into a cotton field at 98th & MLK.

“I just saw it go over the wires and it spun, just spun around and went straight into the ground and exploded. There’s nothing left of the plane.”

Freddy asked authorities if he should check on the occupants after the crash, “If they’re alive, and I just saw it blow up, and I didn’t go get close to it. Nobody got out of that plane. There was no way they could get out. It was a little passenger plane. It wasn’t a crop duster. Looked like a little family plane. It was coming east going west and it barely went over those wires - barely missed ‘em and I saw it just spin around. It went into the ground.”

The plume of smoke was visible from the KCBD parking lot at 98th & University.

This is a developing story; check back for updates

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