A California man was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed at a suburban Kansas City, Kansas, airport over the weekend, authorities said.
The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the pilot as Robert Douglas Ming, 51, of Laguna Niguel, California, television station KSHB reported. Officials said the crash happened as the single-engine Piper Aircraft attempted to take off around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Witnesses said the plane crashed and erupted in flames. Ming was the only person aboard the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate to try to determine the cause of the crash.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Copyright The Associated Press