Search resumes for missing twin-engine plane
Published 11:31 am Monday, June 11, 2012
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The search resumed by air Monday morning for a twin-engine plane and pilot who disappeared while flying from South St. Paul to Duluth and back.
The Civil Air Patrol says the Piper PA-31 had one person on board when it vanished Friday. Major Paul Pieper says 7 airplanes, each with a team of three on board, will be searching Monday.
The search has concentrated over Lake Superior and inland from Silver Bay to the Canadian border.
The Duluth News Tribune (http://bit.ly/KnjpXa ) reports a longtime friend of the missing pilot says searchers are looking for 67-year-old Michael Bratlie of Lakeville. Don Nemcek says he has known the retired Navy and Northwest Airlines pilot for 17 years.
Nemcek says he has flown with Bratlie in the past and noticed how detailed and systematic he was as a pilot.