COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County police have identified the pilot killed in a plane crash in Marietta.
Police said Robert George Westlake, 78, of Atlanta, died in the crash that happened just after 7:30 p.m. Friday.
"He was a dear father, grandfather and a good pilot. He will be dearly missed," the victim's son-in-law said in a statement.
Police said the 1976 green/white Cessna Citation 500 jet, which was based out of Charlie Brown Airport in Fulton County was returning from a business trip in Cincinnati when the pilot radioed that he was having mechanical troubles.
"He said he was having trouble with his auto-pilot," said Leah Read, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Within moments of doing so, the plane crashed in the front yard of a house in the 100 block of Vistawood Lane in Marietta.
“Everything just kind of went in slow motion,” witness Trey Richardson told Channel 2’s Nicole Carr.
One house was destroyed due to intense fire and a second house sustained collateral damage due to the heat generated in the crash, according to police.
The family living in the house that was destroyed was at church at the time. Norm and Barb Keller said they are grateful to be alive and their prayers go out to Westlake's family.
Representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash site for two days and concluded their on-scene investigations Saturday evening.
The NTSB will piece together the plane at its Griffin facility. Investigators hope a cockpit recorder will officer critical information in their investigation.
Cox Media Group
