A Sad Day...

Plane Crashes En Route To Organ Transplant

A plane carrying six members of a University of Michigan organ transplant team went down Monday afternoon in Lake Michigan shortly after the pilot signalled an emergency, authorities said. This morning, the Coast Guard said there are no survivors. Overnight, more debris was found, but not the main part of the plane.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said the Cessna Citation took off from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee at 4 p.m. and was headed for Willow Run Airport near Detroit, a 42-minute flight.

"Within five minutes of its departure from the airport the pilot declared an emergency and requested a return to Mitchell but at that time the plane was no longer on our radar screens'' Molinaro said.

The plane was leased by the University of Michigan Survival Flight air ambulance program, the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor said in a statement. The university said the team was returning from Milwaukee with unspecified organs for transplant to a patient in Michigan.

When system officials found out about the crash, they notified a transplant team in Michigan to stop preparing the transplant candidate. The patient was in critical condition, the university said. -AP

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My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families devistated by this tragic event. I can't say much more...