Atlanta: Four members of family perish after plane crashes into busy highway on route to graduation ceremony

Nobody on the highway was injured in the incident

Four family members flying to a graduation ceremony have been killed after their small plane crashed flames on a busy Atlanta highway.

The plane took off at 9.59am and crashed on Interstate 285, a suburban Atlanta highway, at 10 am. The victims identified at the scene were Greg Byrd,53, his sons Phillip and Christopher, and Christopher Byrd's fiance , Jackie Kulzer. Greg Byrd had been at the controls.

DeKalb County Fire Captain Eric Jackson told WSB-TV that the plane nearly collided with several vehicles but no one traveling on the ground was injured.

“It's a miracle, literally a miracle, that no other cars were hit,” Mr Jackson said.

The family was en route to see Greg’s son Robert Byrd graduate from the University of Mississippi on Saturday morning.

“It looked like it was struggling. You could see him trying to get the nose of the plane up. It was edging up, and then it just dropped,” said witness Don McGhee, 48.

“It was just a huge fire, just smoke and fire — The impact was large, like a bomb being dropped.”

Mr Byrd received his commercial pilot's license on January 22 2015.

National Transportation Safety Board official Eric Alleyne said the investigation and final crash report may take six months to a year to complete.