Pilot killed in fiery plane crash in shopping center parking lot in Plano, Texas

A pilot was killed after a small plane crashed into a shopping center parking lot at a Texas shopping center on Tuesday, authorities said.

Police in Plano, 20 miles north of Dallas, said the aircraft crashed directly outside a nail salon and Mama’s Daughter’s Diner, just before 6 p.m.

“The pilot unfortunately lost their life in the tragic accident,” police said in a statement on X. The pilot was the only person on board and has not been named while their family is informed.

Remarkably, no one else was hurt and there were no reports of damage to buildings.

Both the Federal Aviation Authority and the National Travel Safety Board are investigating. The cause of the crash is currently unknown.

Footage shot by witnesses and shared on social media showed a large fire engulfing the plane.

NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported that in the moments before the crash, the pilot appeared to become disoriented, citing unnamed people who have reviewed materials connected to the flight.

“Thankfully the plane did not land on or collide with anything,” said Daniel Daly from Plano Fire-Rescue in a news conference at the scene Tuesday. “However, the fire resulting from the crash did involve an unoccupied parked vehicle.”

“The only thing we can say is that the FAA and NTSB are both en route to the scene and they will be handling all the investigation as the cause of the crash,” he added

The crash happened less than half a mile from the single-runway Airpark-Dallas Airport, although it is not clear where the plane took off.

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.