A small plane crashed Tuesday night in a densely wooded area of Sauk County, Wisconsin, killing all six people aboard — five adults and one child authorities said.
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office received multiple reports of a downed aircraft around 9:31 p.m. near Park Lane in the Town of Dellona, just outside Mirror Lake State Park and roughly between Reedsburg and Wisconsin Dells. Deputies and other responders, including Lake Delton police, local fire and EMS, the county coroner, and the Wisconsin State Patrol, located the wreckage north of Park Lane and west of Herwig Road. No structures were damaged and no one on the ground was injured. Some neighbors had already begun searching after hearing the impact and seeing a low flying plane.
The aircraft was a fixed-wing, single-engine Piper PA-46 (also referred to as a Piper Meridian), a six seat plane on a return flight from Kenosha Regional Airport to Menomonie. It had departed Kenosha shortly before or around 9 p.m., according to flight-tracking data and officials.
Preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board stated that the plane was flying at 24,000 feet when the pilot contacted air traffic control to report icing and requested a descent. Controllers approved the descent. The aircraft then “entered a right descending turn that increased in rate until communications and data tracking were lost.”
Thunderstorms and rain were reported in the area at the time. Officials said investigators are reviewing air traffic control transmissions and assessing whether weather played a role. In-flight icing is a recognized aviation hazard that can disrupt airflow over the wings, increase drag, and make recovery from a stall more difficult.
Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister confirmed that all six occupants died at the scene. Their identities have not been released pending notification of next of kin. The Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB are leading the investigation. NTSB investigators were expected at the site Wednesday; a preliminary report is typically issued within about 30 days, with a final report usually following in 12 to 24 months.
The scene remains secured as recovery and investigation continues.
