Cobb County

Georgia pilot killed in plane crash just days before 77th birthday

ALABAMA — Authorities in Alabama found the wreckage of William Elliot McClain’s airplane days after it disappeared from radar.

The pilot, from Acworth, was on a test run of his homemade Zenith CH750 Aircraft, flying from Calhoun, Georgia to Tupelo, Mississippi and then return to Calhoun.

McClain’s brother told authorities he was planning on flying the small, lightweight plane to Arkansas to celebrate his 77th birthday with his brother the next week.

Authorities said the plane went down in a rural area in Etowah County, Alabama Thursday.

Search crews discovered the body of McClain in the aircraft in very in a heavily wooded area Saturday morning.

“There does not appear to be (any) foul play and the incident appears to be a tragic accident,” Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton said in a press release.

The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the cause of the crash.