The former director of Oklahoma City’s Federal Aviation Administration center died in a plane crash in Arizona Tuesday.
The Coconinio County Sheriff’s Office said Mac McClure’s twin-engine plane crashed near Flagstaff while he was transporting donated blood to Scottsdale. Authorities said the plane may have had engine trouble shortly after it took off. It then crashed into a wooded area.
During his time in Oklahoma City, McClure volunteered with the Boy Scouts and United Way. His successor Lindy Ritz told The Journal Record’s Dale Denwalt that McClure embraced Oklahoma as soon as he got here:
She was head of the human resources office when he came to Oklahoma City, and Ritz said one of the first things McClure did was to walk around the building to meet employees. He was a mentor to the FAA workers there, and a role model to the community, she said. “He was a motivator and an inspirer,” said Ritz. “He was just an outstanding leader in the way he was able to reach down and have people feel like they were capable of doing things they didn’t think they were able to do.” She recalled that one time during his tenure, repairs to Southeast High School kept students from coming back to class. He let them have class at the FAA’s building instead.
Tuesday night’s flight was on behalf of his organization Flights for Life. The volunteer organization is made up of more than 100 pilots who transport blood donations across the state. McClure flew nearly 900 missions.
Flights for Life Mission Coordinator Jerry Kapp said McClure trained the volunteer pilots so well that the organization will keep going. He had plans to expand Flights for Life to other states. In a 2014 interview about his work with Flights for Life, McClure told the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association magazine that he’s done every type of volunteer work. “Nothing is as fulfilling as this work because I know I’m saving lives,” McClure said.
The 76-year-old McClure is survived by his wife and two sons.
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