UPDATE: Minnesota man dead in plane crash near Holmen

Twp critically injured in another crash near Fond du Lac 

Federal investigators will lead the probe into a plane crash in La Crosse County that has killed a Minnesota pilot.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will try to figure out why the aircraft 56-year-old Loren Larson of Kerkhoven, Minn., was flying crashed into a field outside of Holmen, Wis., Thursday.

The plane was reported missing around noon Thursday, when it failed to make an intended landing at the La Crosse Regional Airport.

The wreckage was found later that evening and Larson’s body was found nearby.

This is the first flying-related death in La Crosse County since 2008, when three men died aboard a medical helicopter that crashed in Medary, Wis.

The NTSB also investigated an accident in Caledonia, Minn., three years ago, when a plane crashed while apparently trying to land at an airport, killing three of the four men aboard.

Around 8 a.m. Thursday, another plane crashed in a field near the Fond du Lac, Wis., airport. The single-engine aircraft bounced a couple times and then cartwheeled according to witnesses. 

Its 78-year-old pilot and 71-year-old passengers were both critically injured.

EARLIER REPORT:

HOLMEN, Wis. — Searchers in La Crosse County have found the wreckage of a plane near Holmen, and they also report finding the body of the plane’s pilot nearby. 

A plane had been reported missing around noon, and the wreck was discovered late in the day, close to County Highway D. 

The sheriff’s office says the missing plane had been scheduled to land in La Crosse on the way to Appleton.

Reports had come in about people who saw planes flying low to the ground in the afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.

About three dozen people searched a 4-square-mile wooded area until it was found.

A signal from the pilot’s cell phone was used to help locate the plane.