News: Clark Co. - Fatal Plane Crash (4 Feb 2015)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Smoot, Siegwart, Herrick

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/04/2015

Fatal Plane Crash (4 February 2015)

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department provided updated information late Jan. 27 regarding the fatal plane crash near Owen a day earlier. One man was killed in the crash that occurred near a field by W4314 Center Road in the Town of Hoard.

According to the Clark County Sheriff’s Department, the pilot radioed the Minneapolis Control Center stating the plane was icing up from the weather at approximately 8,000 feet and they were losing altitude. He said they were force to attempt a landing on Center Road.

During the landing attempt, a wing caught a tree alongside the north shoulder, causing the plane to enter the north ditch and crash into a small grove of trees.

The pilot and one of the passengers were transported to Ministry St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived late Jan. 26.

The three occupants of the plane were the front seat passenger Nathan A. Smoot, 41, of North Pole, AK; the pilot Mark G. Siegwart, 27, of Hammond, IN; and the rear seat passenger Martin G. Siegwart, 56, of Boon, MI.

‘Nathan and Mark were friends and were flying the recently purchased Cessna 182 back to Alaska from the Griffith Airport in Hammond, IN,’ Clark County Sheriff Greg Herrick said. ‘Along the way, they stopped in Cadillac, MI, and picked up Mark’s father, Martin, who was accompanying them on the trip.’

As a result of the crash, Martin G. Siegwart died at the scene from his injuries. Mark G. Siegwart was reported to be in stable condition at the hospital last week, and Nathan A. Smoot was released Jan. 26.