Police identify pilot killed in fiery plane crash in Georgia

March 26, 2017 at 4:21 p.m. | Updated March 26, 2017 at 4:30 p.m.

by Associated Press

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA remove a black box from a crashed Cessna Citation I, Saturday, March 25, 2017, in Kennesaw, Ga. The small plane crashed into a suburban Atlanta neighborhood Friday evening, killing the pilot and setting a house ablaze, officials said. The plane, on its way from Wilmington, Delaware, to Fulton County Airport, crashed next to a house and exploded, Cobb County Fire Department spokeswoman Denell Boyd told reporters. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA remove a black box from a crashed Cessna Citation I, Saturday, March 25, 2017, in Kennesaw, Ga. The small plane crashed into a suburban Atlanta neighborhood Friday evening, killing the pilot and setting a house ablaze, officials said. The plane, on its way from Wilmington, Delaware, to Fulton County Airport, crashed next to a house and exploded, Cobb County Fire Department spokeswoman Denell Boyd told reporters. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

ATLANTA (AP) - Police have identified the pilot who was killed in a fiery crash of a small plane in suburban Atlanta.

Cobb County Police told local news outlets Sunday that 78-year-old Robert George Westlake died in the crash Friday evening. The Cessna Citation I crashed in a subdivision, setting a house ablaze.

FAA spokesman Rick Breitenfeldt said it happened about 3 miles from an airport in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta.

Federal investigators said Saturday that the pilot told air traffic controllers before the crash that he was having an issue with the autopilot feature.

Cobb County Fire Department spokeswoman Denell Boyd said the plane was on its way to Fulton County Airport when it crashed next to a house and exploded.

No one on the ground was hurt.

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