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Investigators recover data recorder in Georgia plane crash

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)

By Associated Press March 25, 2017 1 min read

ATLANTA (AP) – Federal investigators have recovered a bright orange data recorder, often referred to as a “black box,” after the fiery crash of a small plane into a suburban Atlanta subdivision.

WSB-TV reports (http://2wsb.tv/2nQW7kP ) that federal investigators said at a Saturday briefing that the pilot told air traffic controllers before the crash that he was having an issue with the airplane’s autopilot feature.

The Cessna Citation I crashed Friday evening, killing the pilot and setting a house ablaze.

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

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.