One of two small private planes that crashed in a midair collision over McKinney, Texas, on Saturday fell into an Uncle Bob’s Self Storage facility, catching fire. The other crashed into Custer Road. Three passengers were killed in the accident, though no one on the ground was injured. Two of the victims were identified as Gregory and Tim Barber. The third victim hasn’t been identified, according to the source.
Local police and officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spent several hours combing through the wreckage at the self-storage facility, while several tenants waited outside the property to see if their units had been damaged. "The material things can be replaced, but someone has to answer for the people,” tenant Erik Downs told the source.
Custer Road was shut down for most of the night to enable officials to investigate the second plane prior to its removal, the source reported.
Both planes had taken off from Aero Country Airport before colliding. The aircraft were flying under visual flight rules and not in contact with the control tower at the time of the collision, according to NTSB officials.
Gregory Barber was a retired Air Force pilot. His son, Tim, was home for the holidays from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., according to the source.
The incident remains under investigation.
Uncle Bob’s is the operating brand of self-storage real estate investment trust Life Storage Inc. The company has two locations in McKinney.
