Searchers Looking For Plane That Disappeared Over Lake Michigan

Searchers are looking for a single-engine airplane that disappeared over Lake Michigan with two men aboard.

Benzie County Sheriff’s deputies received a call at 7:50pm Sunday from air traffic control in Minneapolis about a red-and-white Bonanza that was in trouble after its engine quit, says Sheriff Ted Schendel. Air traffic control directed the plane to land at the airport in Frankfort but once the plane descended below 1,000 feet, it vanished from radar.

The plane was flying from Ontonagon, Mich. to Monroe.

Overnight, Schendel says two boats and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard (pictured) and a Department of Natural Resources boat searched for the plane; this morning, a Blackhawk helicopter arrived to continue the search.

The center of the search area is four-and-a-half miles northwest of Frankfort. “It’s a huge area that they are searching,” Schendel says.

The plane’s tail number is N1561Z, and it is registered to Evergreen Exploration Company.