KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 79-year-old Valley Center, Kansas, man died Thursday morning when his twin-engine Piper PA-31P crashed shortly after takeoff from the Midwest Regional Air Center in Mosby, Missouri.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said it received a 911 call around 9:37 a.m. from a witness who saw a plane crash into a farm field near NE 150th Street and Cordell Street.
When emergency crews arrived, they found the plane had been fully engulfed in flames and the sole occupant, the pilot who has been identified as Alan “Doug” Moler, deceased.
An initial investigation revealed the plane clipped power lines during the crash, causing localized power outages.
A sheriff’s spokesperson said Moler was en route to an airport in the Wichita area.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will continue to investigate the circumstances of the crash.
