Small plane missing, down: Franklin County IL

[W9GC]

Officials search for missing airplane
By Mona Sandefur - Staff writer
Published: Friday, November 30, 2007 2:31 PM CST

http://www.bentoneveningnews.com/articles/2007/11/30/news/02.txt

Franklin County Sheriff Bill Wilson said officials were searching for a missing airplane Friday morning.

“We had a report of plane that has been missing from Benton Municipal Airport since 4 p.m. on Thursday,” Wilson said.

Someone reported the hangar door of the airport was open and a pickup truck was sitting outside the hangar, he said.

“A small white one-seater airplane was inside the hangar. The owner of the plane may have been having problems with the carburetor. We know the owner had been working on the plane. The plane only had 30 minutes of fuel, so it couldn't have gone very far.

“We have Air Evac searching the area with a helicopter,” the sheriff said.

“We have a Franklin County Emergency Management team searching on the ground, as well as Benton police officers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff, personnel with Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park and the Federal Communications Commission.”

Wilson said the search is being hampered because of shotgun deer season.

“We are afraid to get more people searching on the ground because there are so many deer hunters in the woods,” he said. “The area around Rend Lake has a lot of wilderness that is being searched. We have had sightings that turned out to be something other than a small white plane.”

He said anyone with information is urged to contact the sheriff's department at 438-8211.

“We have had a couple of sightings of smoke that turned out to be Rend Lake personnel performing a controlled burn,” he said.

“We had one sighting that turned out to be white plastic. We have a lot of eyes and ears on the ground. We have been searching for about two and a half hours now.”

Wilson said the name of the pilot is being withheld.

 

[W9GC]

“We have a Franklin County Emergency Management team searching on the ground, as well as Benton police officers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff, personnel with Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park and the Federal Communications Commission.”

I'm curious as to why the FCC is assisting in the search. Perhaps to help locate/track emergency radio traffic from the plane?

I haven't heard any search/rescue traffic on any frequencies but IREACH (155.0550).

 

[W9GC]

Still no sign of the missing plane, the Civil Air Patrol now has a command center in operation and is conducting their search/rescue mission on the following frequencies:

148.15000 - Air search units
148.12500 - Air search units
149.53750 - Air search units
148.13750 - Ground search teams
151.13750 - Ground search teams
158.73750 - Ground search teams
155.05500 - IREACH

 

[W9GC]

Officials search for missing pilot
By Bethany Krajelis, The Southern
Saturday, December 01, 2007

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2007/12/01/top/22401496.txt

BENTON - The search for a missing Pinckneyville man and his small plane is expected to continue today and officials are urging local hunters to be on the lookout.

Daniel J. Bradac Sr., 58, is believed to have taken off in his experimental aircraft between 4 and 4:30 p.m. Thursday from the Benton Municipal Airport, said Benton Police Chief Mike O'Neill. Police were notified he was missing Friday morning and by early afternoon, several emergency agencies were stationed at the airport and planes were combing the area for the pilot and his white KR2 airplane.

"We are doing the best as we can to be optimistic. We still believe it's in the window where he could have survived this," O'Neill said. "It's very possible he landed in a field and is walking, maybe disoriented."

Franklin County Sheriff Bill Wilson said an airport employee noticed the door of the hangar was open and the pilot's truck was at the facility Thursday and remained there the following morning. At one point, officials believed Bradac's plane was only carrying about 30 minutes worth of fuel, but O'Neill said it is likely he had about four hours worth.

Thursday's search concentrated on the area surrounding the small airport located off Interstate 57 in Franklin County. It was expected to halt at sundown and start back up this morning. O'Neill said the search effort includes several counties because it is difficult to know how far Bradac flew before experiencing problems.

It is unknown what may have happened, but O'Neill said the pilot's family does not believe Bradac would have strayed from his typical flying routine. He was known to fly around the Benton area and over a family member's home before returning to the unmanned airport.

O'Neill said it was confirmed that the pilot missed a Friday morning appointment in Kentucky.

Several members of Bradac's family gathered in the airport's terminal Friday. Some talked on cell phones while others stared out the window into the skies. O'Neill said at that time, they wanted to be left alone. He said they were doing as well as they could and like the officials, were hoping for the best.

With that in mind, O'Neill said he wants to get the message out to hunters headed into the woods today to be on the lookout for Bradac and his plane. Bradac has grey silver hair, a goatee, stands about 5'9" and weighs about 200 pounds, O'Neill said.

His white, single-seat airplane has a wood frame and is covered with fiberglass, O'Neill said, adding that a KR2 is a high-quality and high-speed aircraft that is not manufactured by a company. He was unsure if Bradac built it by himself.

If anyone sees Bradac or his plane, O'Neill said they can call the Franklin County Sheriff's Department at 435-8187.

 

[tk9796]

i know two guys that are ground team leaders in CAP and left late last night for the command post. If I hear anything I'll post it up here.

 

[tk9796]

just in: the pilot was killed when his plane went down.

 

[W9GC]

Missing Pinkneyville Pilot Found
5:56 pm CT December 02, 2007.

http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=3580&type=top

FRANKLIN COUNTY--The search for a Pinkneyville pilot has come to an end. Officials found the body of fifty-eight year old Daniel Brodac this morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was believed to have taken off just before sunset Thursday from the Benton Municipal Airport, but never returned home.

The last two days, officials have been searching over a thirty mile radius near the airport. Today, rescuers found Bradac's body very close to his aircraft just north of the Benton Airport Runway.

Officials say they still don't know what caused Daniel Bradac's plane to go down, and also they are not clear if Bradac was killed by the impact of a crash or something else. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.