ALBANY – Former ACU football letterman Dale "Scooter" Phillips was the pilot of a plane that disappeared Monday night shortly after taking off from Abilene Regional Airport and was discovered Tuesday morning near Albany.
Phillips, 47, and his passenger, Amy Clay, were both killed in the plane crash. According to the Abilene Reporter-News, the the Shackelford County Sheriff's Department received communication from the Federal Aviation Administration-Abilene Tower that the plane had gone off radar about five miles northeast of Albany.
The sheriff's department, Civil Air Patrol, Department of Public Safety and others worked together to try to find the aircraft Monday night. Officials searched until 4 a.m., then resumed the search around 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Officials discovered part of the plane's wing after 9 a.m. They then located the fuselage, and the remains of the pilot and passenger.
Phillips and Clay were traveling from Abilene Regional Airport to a location in Oklahoma, said Shackelford County Sheriff Edward Miller.
Phillips played two seasons at ACU (1984, 1985), setting the ACU single-game record for touchdown receptions with four in a 1985 game against Northern Colorado. He was an honorable mention all-Lone Star Conference selection in 1985.
