September 30, 2021 at 1:47 p.m.
Plane crash in Forest County claims 3 lives
Flight originated from Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport
Plane crash in Forest County claims 3 lives
"There was a small plane crash reported this morning, we located the scene, confirmed that it was a plane," the spokesperson said. "There were three occupants of the plane, and recovery efforts are underway."
The command post for the operation was established at the Town of Hiles and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were due to be at the crash scene Wednesday morning. The cause of the crash was unknown as of Tuesday afternoon.
Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport director Matt Leitner said the airport learned about the possible crash 45 minutes after the plane took off.
"We got a call from the Minneapolis Center air traffic control facility probably about 9:30 a.m.," Leitner said. "It (the plane) did depart out of here at about 8:45."
Lifelink dispatched an air ambulance helicopter at about 10:30 a.m., he added.
According to the NTSB Twitter account, the plane involved was a Rockwell International 690B Turbo Commander and the plane reportedly crashed in a swampy area in the vicinity of Franklin Lake Campground. According to the flight tracking software FlightAware, a plane of that type took off from Rhinelander at 8:50 a.m. The flight track of the plane went northeast and was "last seen near Eagle River." The software listed the trip as 33 miles.
According to FlightAware, the plane is registered to the Surdex Corporation of Chesterfield, Mo. As of press time, attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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