Plane crash in Conroe claims two

Sun May 8, 2011.
By Matt Stephens |
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Flight Standards District Office are investigating a fiery plane crash that killed a Conroe man and his daughter Saturday morning near Lone Star Executive Airport.

The aircraft’s pilot, Elzie Jessie Warren, 70, and his daughter, passenger Phyllis Jean Ridings, 52, died when his airplane crashed in the woods north the airport in Conroe.
Conroe Fire Chief Ken Kreger said the plane, an experimental Ravin aircraft, took off from runway No. 14 at 8:52 a.m. Warren called the air traffic controller complaining of smoke in the cockpit less than three minutes later.

The plane crashed in the woods at 8:55 a.m. about half a mile north of the airport, missing runway No. 19, which appears to be where Warren had planned to land, Kreger said. MCHD and Conroe Fire Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call from the control tower shortly before the crash at 8:54 a.m.
While firefighters and police arrived on scene at 9:03 a.m., the distance from the edge of the woods to the crash made it difficult to reach the scene, Kreger said.

About an acre of land was bulldozed around the fire by the Texas Forest Service, and Kreger said the blaze was “contained and under control” Saturday afternoon.

Dennis McCright, a pilot, said he has known “Bud” Warren for 10 years and called him “a good guy and a family man,” while praising Warren for his “genius” skills as an engineer and mechanic.
“He’ll be missed, not only him personally, but his expertise because he helped a lot around the airport,” McCright said.

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