Pilot killed in Hilltop Lakes crash

Hilltop Lakes residents Mr. and Mrs. Truett Mobley were visiting a daughter in Dallas when the Cessna 210 crashed into their home. Paul’s Photos Residents of Hilltop Lakes were horrified as they watched a plane crash Wednesday, September 23, just after dark.

According to authorities, the runway lights had been turned off because of the threat of lightning. Pilot Paul Valois, of Vermont, had called his friend John Neukom to ask if the lights were on and if not, to please have them turned on.

Neukom was on his way to the Pilot’s Lounge to turn on the lights when he saw Valois circling in his single-engine Cessna 210. Then Neukom watched his friend’s plane clip a tree and cartwheel into a home on Golfview Drive.

“The fuel tanks obviously just burst and it was a big ball of fire,” said Neukom. “It was fully engulfed at that point and I broke down one door and tried to go in and just couldn’t do it,” continues Neukom, “I just worried about trying to get Paul out and there just wasn’t any getting him.”

Hilltop Lakes resident Viola Carlton watched as the plane crashed. “I thought it was going to make the landing but realized the plane was too high to land,” she said in her first-hand account.

Truett Mobley and his wife live in the home where the crash occurred. Fortunately, they were in Dallas visiting a daughter.

Valois was a property owner at Hilltop Lakes and was looking forward to being a full-time resident following his upcoming retirement.