Wisconsin couple die in crash after leaving Lake in the Hills Airport

A Wisconsin couple were killed Sunday when their plane that took off from the Lake in the Hills Airport crashed in south central Wisconsin, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.

The Sauk County Sheriff's Department says 55-year-old Elaine Eigner and her 58-year-old husband, Robert Eigner, of Hillsboro, died in the crash of the Cessna 150.

The crash happened at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday about 15 miles southwest of Baraboo.

The couple were returning from a wedding in Rolling Meadows, said Jennifer Eigner, the couple's 25-year-old daughter. It was the first time her parents had traveled to the Lake in the Hills Airport, she said.

“My dad had his license for about a year,” she said. “It was something he had always wanted to do. They made mostly local trips and were planning some longer ones.”

Sheriff's officials say they received two calls about a loud crash in the Baraboo Bluffs area near the city of Baraboo about 6:30 p.m. Authorities from at least six agencies searched the rocky, wooded terrain in heavy fog. The airplane was found about 10:30 p.m. in some woods in the Township of Honey Creek. The couple were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Cessna 150 left Lake in the Hills earlier in the day headed for Reedsburg, about 50 miles from their home in Hillsboro. Officials said the plane was using visual flight rules and wasn't in contact with any airports when it went down.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Larissa Chinwah contributed to this report.