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Airplane's cargo a mystery

Airport officials say they don't know what exactly the two pilots were attempting to pick up in Wheeling before their plane crashed on Tuesday, but it was important.

A Learjet trip from Michigan to Chicago costs "at least a couple thousand dollars," said Dennis Rouleau, manager of Wheeling's Chicago Executive Airport.

"This is not regular FedEx type of cargo," he said. "Typically it's one of two things: some type of part needed for an assembly line or a medical transportation like a kidney or heart for example.

"It wasn't a big plane. It must have been something that needed to get from point A to point B very quickly."

Whatever the cargo was, it had already been picked up by Wednesday afternoon, he said.