Jumbo, the plane, crashed (8)
I believe the answer is:
elephant
'jumbo' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the plane crashed' is the wordplay.
'crashed' is an anagram indicator.
'the'+'plane'='theplane'
'theplane' anagrammed gives 'ELEPHANT'.
(Other definitions for elephant that I've seen before include "Large beast" , "Trumpeting animal" , "Endangered Species" , "Large animal found in the plane?" , "The symbol of the Republican Party" .)