Crime & Safety

Search For Missing Lakeville Pilot Continues in Northern Minnesota

Media reports say Michael Bratlie, 67, of Lakeville and his Piper PA-31 are missing, and a search is on along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Authorities resumed their search Monday along the North Shore of Lake Superior for a Lakeville pilot and his airplane which vanished Friday.

Multipule media reports have said 67-year-old Michael Bratlie of Lakeville and his twin-engine Piper PA-31 disappeared on June 8. 

Major Paul Peiper of the Civil Air Patrol declined to officially identify the pilot, but acknowledged the search was on for a plane similar to Bratlie's with just one person aboard.

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Don Nemcek, who says he has known the retired Navy and Northwest Airlines pilot for 17 years, told the Duluth News Tribune that Bratlie was on a day trip from Fleming Field in South St. Paul to Duluth and back.

The search, according to the Civil Air Patrol and based off cell phone tracking and airplane coordinates, is focused on an area well north of Duluth, however, spanning from Silver Bay north to the Canadian Border. Crews will also be searching Lake Superior.

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According to the Pioneer Press, Bratlie did not file a flight plan or speak with air traffic control.

The search team consisted over the weekend consisted of eight planes and four groups on the ground.

will have more on the story as it develops.


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