Small plane crash in southern Minnesota kills pilot
A Minnesota State Patrol squad car is near the site where a small plane crashed Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020, in Windom, Minnesota.[Courtesy of Jennifer Doherty]
Authorities say a small plane with no passengers on board crashed Sunday morning, killing the pilot after taking off from a southern Minnesota airport.
The Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Department said in a release that law enforcement began searching after a report there was no radio contact with a plane scheduled to depart from the Windom Municipal Airport, located about 150 miles southwest of the Twin Cities.
The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-32, was headed to Warren County Memorial Airport in McMinnville, Tennesee, according to the Federal Aviation Administraiton. The wreckage was found in a field 6 miles north of the airport around 7:43 a.m.
There were no passengers on board. The pilot was dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s department said it was assisted by the Windom Police Department, Windom Fire Department, Minnesota State Patrol, Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The statement said the investigation is ongoing. No further details were immediately available.