DeKALB – A flight that started at DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport on Tuesday had a fatal end when the pilot of a single-engine plane was killed in a crash just outside Rockford.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the crash happened about 8 a.m., in a cornfield several miles southeast of Chicago Rockford International Airport. The identity of the pilot was not confirmed, but the plane was registered to a Monee man.

Ogle County Sheriff Michael Harn said the pilot told controllers at Rockford’s airport that there was smoke in his cockpit and that he planned an emergency landing. When the airport lost contact with him, the sheriff’s office began a search.