Pilot identified in fatal Duplin County plane crash

North Carolina State Highway Patrol officials identified the pilot who was killed in a plane crash Monday afternoon as Kenneth R. Hetzel, 63, from Yorkville, Ill.

The RV-6 plane, an experimental aircraft built from a kit, took off from the Wilmington Airport at 12:40 p.m., according to Federal Aviation Administration Kathleen Burgen.

It crashed into a wooded area a short time later near the intersection of Edwards Road and Magnolia Mobile Home Park Lane in Duplin County.

Hetzel was the only person on-board.