By the Associated Press
Authorities say a California man was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed at a suburban Kansas City, Kansas, airport.
Television station KSHB reports that the Kansas Highway Patrol identified the pilot as 51-year-old Robert Douglas Ming, of Laguna Niguel, California.
Officials say 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 say the plane crashed and erupted in flames. Ming was the only person aboard the plane.
