The pilot of a plane that crashed into a Marietta house has been identified, officials say.
Robert George Westlake, 78, of Atlanta, was killed Friday evening, when a Cessna Citation I aircraft went down near a home in the 100 block of Vistawood Drive in Marietta, Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said.
No one else was on board.
This was the third time in less than six weeks that federal officials investigated a deadly plane crash in or near metro Atlanta.
The 1976 plane was en route to Fulton County Airport from Cincinnati, Ohio, Pierce said.
Westlake radioed that he was having mechanical troubles moments before the crash, Pierce said.
Flames from the crash spread to the home, setting it on fire, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The residents, Norm and Barbara Keller, were at church at the time of the crash.
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No injuries were reported from the fire.
"From what it looks like at this point, it came over from the top of the house and landed in the front yard," Danell Boyd of the Cobb County fire department told Channel 2.
Update from NTSB says pilot of small jet reported issue with his auto pilot shortly before crashing into Cobb Co neighborhood. LIVE at Noon pic.twitter.com/Ah2lybW9v9
— Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB) March 25, 2017
The crash site is near Kennesaw State University’s Fifth Third Bank Stadium and Town Center at Cobb. Smoke was visible from the stadium.
Witnesses said the plane nose-dived to the ground, Channel 2 reported.
Wreckage removal has begun where Atlanta-based pilot died in Cobb subdivision plane crash. Parts will head to Griffin NTSB facility @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/OanEoQIZam
— Nicole Carr (@NicoleFCarr) March 25, 2017
"I heard a swoosh and then a clap and an explosion and I pretty much knew before I looked outside that it was a plane crash," said Joe Thomas, a resident in the area.
The neighborhood will be blocked off while National Transportation Safety Board investigators look into the crash.
On Feb. 16, a plane crash at the Barrow County airport killed two people on board.
On March 4, the pilot was killed when a plane went down near the Cherokee County airport.
