Five adults and one child are dead after a plane crashed in the Town of Dellona in Sauk County Tuesday night.
SAUK COUNTY, Wis. (WKOW) — Five adults and one child are dead after a plane crashed in the Town of Dellona in Sauk County Tuesday night.
Sauk County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Matt Burch said calls about a possible crash came in around 9:31 p.m.
When deputies arrived, several neighbors were already searching the area after hearing what they believed was a plane crash. Witnesses also reported seeing a low-flying plane.
Burch said deputies located the crash site fairly quickly, which was located north of Park Lane and west of Herwig Road in a densely wooded area. No homes were damaged, and officials said there were no victims outside the aircraft.
Officials learned the plane was a fixed-wing Piper PA 46 flying a return trip from Kenosha to Menomonie.
Before the crash, the aircraft was reported to be in contact with a nearby air traffic control tower. Investigators are working to learn what the content of those transmissions were and if a weather event in the area may have played any role in the crash, Burch said.
The area will remain closed through midday Wednesday. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials will release the names of the deceased at a later time.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting with the investigation.
According to preliminary information from the NTSB, “the plane was flying at 24,000 feet when the pilot reported icing and requested to descend.”
The report states, “Air traffic control approved the descent, and the aircraft entered a right descending turn that increased in rate until communications and data tracking were lost.”
A team of NTSB investigators are arriving Wednesday to document the scene and examine the aircraft. The aircraft will be taken to a secure facility for further evaluation.
Witnesses to the accident or those who have surveillance video or other information that could be relevant to the investigation are asked to contact the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.
A preliminary report will be released within 30 days. A probable cause of the crash and any contributing factors will be in the final report, which can be expected in 12 to 24 months, the NTSB said.
Lake Delton Police Department, Delton Fire Department, Dells/Delton EMS, Sauk County Coroner’s Office and Wisconsin State Patrol assisted the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office in the response.