Searchers Looking For Missing Plane In NE Minn.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Searchers looked on the ground and in the waters of Lake Superior on Sunday for a plane that went missing over northeastern Minnesota.
The Civil Air Patrol said the twin-engine Piper had one person on board and was reported to be on a flight from Fleming Field in South St. Paul to the Duluth airport and back to St. Paul on Friday.
The search area Sunday extended from Silver Bay to the Canadian border, including Lake Superior, Col. Jerry Rosendahl of the Civil Air Patrol told the Duluth News Tribune (http://bit.ly/KtVbWH).
"Unfortunately, we're not rich in clues or solid information," Rosendahl said. "Our planning section is working on every kind of idea of what might have happened and sending our crews out to the search area. We work the inland searches and the Coast Guard works the water."
Eight Civil Air Patrol airplanes and six ground teams were involved in the search. Around 60 Civil Air Patrol volunteers were working from a base at the Duluth airport.
The Coast Guard was asked to search an area of Lake Superior where cellphone tracing had placed the plane at some point in its journey, Chief Petty Officer Kyle Niemi told the newspaper. A boat crew out of Duluth did not find anything and completed its involvement in the search Sunday morning, he said.
The pilot's name has not been released. The plane is described as a white twin engine Piper PA31 Navaho with red and blue striping
The Civil Air Patrol asks anyone in northeastern Minnesota with information to contact local law enforcement.
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