NTSB: Pilot reported autopilot, steering issues before crash

Here’s a look at what’s happening in other parts of Northwest Georgia:

MARIETTA — The pilot of the small plane that crashed in a Marietta neighborhood last month reported problems with his autopilot and steering during the flight, according to a preliminary accident report.

The pilot, 78-year-old Robert Westlake of Atlanta, was talking to the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center the night of March 24 before he crashed a few miles east of the Cobb County International Airport. He was the only person killed in the crash.

The connection between Westlake’s Cessna Citation I and the traffic control center was lost when Westlake was about 15 miles north of Fulton County’s Charlie Brown Airport, according to the accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB released the preliminary report last week. Investigators will continue to gather and analyze the facts surrounding the wreck to determine a probable cause, according to Christopher O’Neil, spokesman for the NTSB.

The final report can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete, he said.

Westlake’s medical application in 2013 reported a total of 6,000 flight hours, according to the report. O’Neil said that is a “respectable” number of flight hours.

Westlake’s most recent medical certificate was issued in September but did not include an updated total number of flight hours.

Westlake was flying from Cincinnati, Ohio, and heading toward Charlie Brown Airport, the report says.

Witnesses told the NTSB they saw the plane roll over before nose-diving into the front yard of a home on Vistawood Lane in the Piedmont Hills neighborhood near Bells Ferry Road.

The owners of the home, Deacon Norm Keller and Barbara Keller, were not at home during the crash.

The home has been declared a total loss after the plane’s fuel sparked a fire in the home’s front yard, according to Barbara Keller.

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