On the morning of Tuesday, October 19, 2021, a private plane owned by James Alan Kent crashed into a field in Waller County, Texas with twenty-one passengers aboard. Kent, who has served as one of the board directors for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo since 1985 was en route to Boston to watch Game 4 between the Astros and Red Sox that evening.
According to preliminary FAA reports, the plane never left the ground before the crash. As the plane, which was identified as a McDonnell Douglas MD-87, was preparing to take off from the Houston Executive Airport in Waller County, it smashed through a fence and into an adjacent field, where the plane came to rest and caught fire near FM 2855, north of Morton Road in Waller, Texas. The force of the explosion was fierce enough to be felt by a nearby construction worker. According to DPS officials, twenty-one passengers were aboard the plane, including three crew members. Of those aboard, two were transported to Memorial Hermann in Katy.
The crash is still under investigation by the FAA and NTSB. It is unclear to authorities what the cause of the crash was. As is standard with aircraft crashes, the NTSB will lead the investigation and has already dispatched a team to the crash site.
If you or a loved one was injured as a result of a commercial aviation accident, contact the office of Benny Agosto, Jr. or Ben Agosto III at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, by letter at 800 Commerce Street, Houston, Texas 77002, or by phone at (713) 222-7211. We currently maintain separate, ongoing lawsuits against commercial aviation defendants and stand by prepared to assist in this matter.