DETROIT – A Texas couple was killed Sunday when a single-engine plane crashed in Detroit just a mile from Coleman A. Young International Airport (Detroit City Airport).
Greg Boaz, 54, and Julie Boaz, 48, were traveling from Texas with Greg's 17-year-old son. The teen survived the crash and was able to escape the fiery wreckage. He is at a hospital with his biological mother, who flew into Detroit separately on a commercial flight.
Only the three of them were on the plane. No one on the ground was injured.
Family was to meet in Detroit
The trio was supposed to meet up with the teen's mother for an event in Detroit. But the single engine prop Cessna 210 plane crashed about 8 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Milton and Eldon avenues, west of Van Dyke Avenue
Local 4 has learned the teen originally was sitting in the front seat on the plane, but during a layover he asked to sit in the back seat because he was cramped. When the plane crashed, his father and stepmother were killed.
Video shows the teen rolling out of the burning wreckage. He was able exit out of a door.
What caused this crash?
The plane may have been out of fuel. It had left Texas just before 4 p.m. and after a short layover in Arkansas it was expected to touch down in Detroit just before 8 p.m.
The pilot was circling Detroit City Airport and attempting to land in a grassy area. The tower eventually lost contact.
The 911 calls started flooding dispatch just after 8 p.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating. It may take them a year to finalize their scientific report.
NEW: NTSB suspects landing gear problem, fuel emergency
BREAKING: NTSB has just arrived at the scene of a small plane crash on Detroit’s east side that killed two, and critically injured a teen. Officials working to determine the cause of the crash. Expected to give an update in an hour @Local4News pic.twitter.com/dpEpzOcZO4
— Priya Mann (@priyamanntv) June 25, 2018