Icing reported before Wisconsin turboprop crash that killed six

The pilot of a single-engine turboprop told air traffic controllers the aircraft was accumulating ice before it crashed in southern Wisconsin, killing all six people on board.

The airplane came down on the evening of October 13, 2026 in a wooded area in the Town of Dellona, close to Wisconsin Dells, while flying between Kenosha and Menomonie.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the pilot reported icing at 24,000 feet. Controllers cleared a descent. The aircraft then rolled into a right-hand descending turn that steepened until radio contact and tracking data were both lost.

The Sauk County Sheriff's Office said dispatchers began receiving calls about an aircraft down in the area of Park Lane at roughly 21:31 local time. Search teams located the wreckage and confirmed that none of the six occupants survived.

Five adults and one child were killed. The sheriff's office said no one on the ground was hurt and no structures were damaged, and that the victims' names were being held back until relatives could be told.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the airplane as a Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage. It had been through a JetPROP DLX conversion, a modification that swaps the Malibu Mirage's piston engine for a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop.