Authorities in Wisconsin, Minnesota search for missing plane

ALMA, Wis. (AP) -- Officials in Wisconsin and Minnesota searched Friday for a single-engine plane missing after its pilot reported icing problems due to snowy weather, authorities said.

A handful of Civil Air Patrol officials, one sheriff's deputy and six county highway trucks were among those searching the 300 square miles in the Waumandee area of Wisconsin, said Jake Goeldner, a Buffalo County Sheriff's Department dispatcher in Alma. The area is filled with farms and surrounded by wooded bluffs, he said.

A handful of sheriff's deputies were also searching between Wabasha and Kellogg, small cities in Minnesota about six miles apart along the Mississippi River, authorities said.

The pilot was believed to be the only one on board the Cessna 208B, a six-seat plane, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinero said from Chicago. He took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for a flight to Willow Run Airport in Detroit, Molinero said.

The pilot reported icing before air controllers in the Twin Cities lost contact about 2 a.m. when the plane was 12 miles southeast of Winona, Molinero said.