The pilot and sole occupant of an airplane died at mid-day Saturday after his small, home-built aircraft crashed about a mile short of the Burnet Municipal Airport near Delaware Springs.

Louis Marvin Harris, 81, of Spicewood was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:10 p.m. by Dr. Oliver Fannin, according to Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lisa Block.

The plane was identified by the DPS as a Sonex fixed-wing aircraft. Based at Spicewood Airport, Harris had attended a fly-in at Kingsland Airport and radioed the pilot of another plane that he was having trouble just before the crash occurred, according to Federal Aeronautics Administration spokesman Ben Lunsford.

The DPS said Harris told the fellow flier he was diverting to Burnet. The crash occurred within the Burnet city limits just west of US 281 and near Delaware Springs.

Services are pending with Edgar Funeral Home in Marble Falls. FAA and DPS investigations continue.

For details, see Tuesday’s Highlander.