Small plane crashes near Las Cruces; 2 people injured

Two people have been transported to the hospital after a plane crashed near Las Cruces airport Friday morning.

The plane is a T-28 vintage Navy plane that was occupied by a civilian pilot and passenger.

One was in critical condition and sent to University Medical Center in El Paso and the other in non-critical condition at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces.

The plane crash occurred at about 11 a.m. Friday about a quarter of a mile east of Las Cruces International Airport close to Frontage Road and Box Canyon Road.

New Mexico State Police are conducting the initial investigation with the FAA investigating the cause of the crash. The cause is unknown at this time.

There were two plane crashes in the Las Cruces area in 2014.

Tyler Francis, president of Francis Aviation, was killed in a plane crash at Las Cruces International Airport in late November.

Francis, 29, was the sole occupant of the single-engine plane that crashed at around noon on Nov. 24 about 150 feet from the terminal on the tarmac.

In Aug. 2014, four people were killed in an air ambulance crash west of Las Cruces on Aug. 27. They died from a combination of burns, smoke inhalation and blunt force trauma, according to autopsy reports.

In 2012, a plane crashed or crash landed about two miles south of the Las Cruces airport.

The ABC-7 Investigative team learned the 2012 plane belonged to a Sean Tommervik from East Bridgewater, Massachussetts.