2 killed in small plane crash in Texas

CONROE, Texas (AP) - A man and his adult daughter died Saturday when a small plane crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport north of Houston, officials said.

The dead were identified as Elzie Jesse Warren, 70, and Phyllis Jean Ridings, 52, both of Conroe, said Trooper Erick Burse of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The fiery crash happened about 9 a.m. a half-mile north of the Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe, from which the single-engine, kit-built Ravin 500 had just taken off on a planned 125-mile flight to Temple, Burse said. Conroe is about 40 miles north of Houston.

The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit and declared an emergency just before the crash of the experimental aircraft owned by Loyd Woodward of Girard, Burse said. Woodward did not immediately return a phone message Saturday.

It was not clear who was piloting the plane at the time of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the scene.