27-year-old North Texas woman killed in Cooke County plane crash; student copilot injured
A 27-year-old woman from Granbury died Tuesday night in a plane crash in Gainesville, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Bailey Elaine Maldonado died when the single-engine plane, a Cessna Skyhawk owned by Wings Over Texas Holdings, crashed in a field behind a home in the 900 block of County Road 404 in Cooke County around 8:50 p.m. Tuesday, according to DPS.
Maldonado was the pilot on the instructional flight, according to the Cooke County Sheriff’s Office. Her student co-pilot, 26-year-old James Donald Watts, of Springfield, Oregon, was taken by helicopter to Medical City Denton hospital with serious injuries, according to the DPS report.
The plane took off from Denton Enterprise Airport, where the U.S. Aviation Academy trains pilots, and it was en route to Gainesville Municipal Airport, according to FlightAware, which tracks flights. The aircraft took off around 7:48 p.m. and was heading south when it crashed, according to DPS and FlightAware.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash.
Maldonado was certified as a commercial pilot and flight instructor, according to the FAA website.
This story was originally published June 12, 2024 at 3:16 PM.