Two dead in Lake Michigan plane crash

Two men were pronounced dead after their small single-engine plane went down in Lake Michigan on Saturday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. [source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Just before 4 p.m. EDT, air traffic controllers at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee reported to search-and-rescue coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan that they had lost a single engine Piper aircraft on radar about three miles northeast of the airport and had no radio communications with the plane.

A crew from Coast Guard Station Milwaukee aboard a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium responded to the scene along with local police land units and fire department marine units. An aircrew from Coast Guard Air Facility Waukegan, Ill., aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter also responded to the accident.

Upon arriving on scene, the Station Milwaukee crew reported finding a debris field in the water. The plane, a Piper Cherokee manufactured in 1975 (tail number N1549X), is registered to Ann Marie Schmid, Franksville, Wis., according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

The cause of the crash is unknown.

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