Pilot In Cobb Plane Crash Was Returning From Business Trip: Officials

MARIETTA, GA -- Officials said the pilot in a plane that went down in a Cobb County neighborhood was coming back from a business trip when he crashed, Patch has learned.that landed

The single-engine plane crashed late Friday near a set of homes in the 100 block of Vistawood Drive in Marietta, according to news reports.

The pilot, identified as Robert George Westlake, 78, of Atlanta, died Friday evening, when his aircraft went down.

Westlake was returning from a business trip in Cincinnati when he radioed that he was in trouble before his plane went down, federal officials concluded in an investigation.

"He said he was having trouble with his auto-pilot," Leah Read, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told WSB-TV.

"He was a dear father, grandfather and a good pilot. He will be dearly missed," Westlake's son-in-law said in a statement sent to local media.

The plane set the Marietta home of Norm and Barbara Keller -- who were not inside -- ablaze.

The Kellers were at St. Joseph Catholic Church observing Lent, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We went to our local church’s fish fry and then we did the Stations of the Cross,” Norm Keller told the AJC.

The crash rattled the neighborhood, which is adjacent to Kennesaw State University’s Fifth Third Bank Stadium.

"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," resident Joe Thomas told local media.

The plane was headed to Fulton County Airport, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which cites FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

Images on social media showed a home ablaze amid the wreckage of the plane, which was a Cessna Citation 1.

"From what it looks like at this point, it came over from the top of the house and landed in the front yard," Cobb County fire department spokesman Danell Boyd told WSB-TV.

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