A pressurized six-seat Piper plane carrying as many as five or six people went down in rural Sauk County on Tuesday night, killing multiple people aboard. The crash occurred in the Town of Dellona, a stretch of countryside northwest of Madison and west of Wisconsin Dells. Dispatchers began fielding reports of the crash around 9:30 p.m.
Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister confirmed that emergency personnel located the aircraft and that five adults and one child had died, according to TMJ4 News. Initial reporting from local authorities suggested between five and six people were believed to be on board at the time of the crash, per The Sunday Guardian. The sheriff's office confirmed six deaths; the identities of those killed had not been made public as of early Wednesday morning.
Flight tracking records compiled by Aviation Safety Network show the aircraft as a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage, tail number N931TT. The plane was flying from Kenosha Regional Airport in southeastern Wisconsin toward Menomonie Municipal Airport when it went down, according to the same flight-tracking data. Dispatchers received reports of the crash around 9:30 p.m.
Thunderstorms Preceded the Rapid Descent
Crash Site in the Town of Dellona Local emergency response communications relayed by WMTV placed the crash near Park Lane in the Town of Dellona.
The Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage is a six-seat, single-engine aircraft with a pressurized cabin and a 350-horsepower turbocharged Lycoming engine, built for high-altitude, long-range general aviation flying, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. That design allows the model to cruise as high as 25,000 feet, well above where many smaller single-engine planes operate.
FAA and NTSB Have Opened an Investigation
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash and have launched an investigation, TMJ4 reported, with a reporter dispatched to the scene as emergency crews worked the wreckage. Under standard federal protocol, the NTSB typically issues a preliminary factual report within 10 to 14 days of a civil aircraft crash, though a full probable-cause determination can take 12 to 24 months, according to NTSB policy documentation.
General Aviation Safety Data
For now, investigators in Sauk County are piecing together what happened in the final minutes before the Mirage went down; the role of weather remains unclear.
