Two cargo planes collided in midair over southeastern Wisconsin on Sunday, with one of them crashing and killing three people and the other able to land, aviation officials said.
The identical multiengine, fixed-wing cargo planes departed Milwaukee's Gen. Mitchell International Airport together and collided around 5 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
One made a rough landing at an airport in Juneau about 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee. None of the three people aboard that plane was hurt, Cory said.
The plane left the runway and ended up in the grass, said Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls. It had significant damage.
"There was debris up and down the entire runway," he said, adding that he did not know why the planes collided or what they were carrying.
The other plane crashed and burned in a field near Watertown, about 20 miles south. Investigators did not have more information about the victims on that plane.
It was unclear whether the planes had the same destination.
The plane that landed safely was registered to Air Cargo Carrier Inc. of Milwaukee. Company dispatcher Randy Jackson said his employer was investigating and would make no other comment.
Both planes had the same owner, Cory said.
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