Johnson on Central Texas plane crash victim from Sugar Land: 'He always wanted to fly'

Authorities have identified the two people who perished in a plane crash near the Central Texas city of Marlin, according to a report from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU. One of the deceased is Sugar Land resident Thomas Sands Jr., the station reported. 

Sands was aboard a single-engine Cessna T206H that departed Houston Executive Airport in unincorporated Waller County for Waco Regional Airport on Tuesday (April 5).

The six-seat aircraft went down at around 12:40 p.m. near Marlin Airport some 30 miles southwest of Waco, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

KHOU reported that the aviation accident also killed 27-year-old Cinnamon Franklin of Greenwood, Indiana.

Harry Johnson, president of the U.S. Flight Club at Houston Executive Airport, said in the report that Sands graduated from West Point and was a retired colonel.

Johnson said flying was Sands' second career.

"It was his love," Johnson said, according to KHOU. "He always wanted to fly and he was a member of our club for many years."

Sands was reportedly at the controls while Franklin, whose Facebook profile revealed that she just earned a commercial pilot license, acted as his observer, the report said.

Both Sands and Franklin were declared dead at the scene and authorities notified their next of kin, according to KHOU.

Waco CBS affiliate KWTX reported that Marlin City Manager Cedric Davis Jr. and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) confirmed the fatalities.

Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez told KWTX that the aircraft didn't burst into flames upon impact.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are heading the crash investigation.

According to a Houston Executive Airport official, the six-seat Cessna departed at around 10:30 a.m. without any problems, Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the crash, per KPRC.