Bob Collins
The whereabouts and reasons for the disappearance of a Lakeville pilot will remain a mystery.
The National Transportation Safety Board this week concluded its investigation into the disappearance of Michael Bratlie, 67, who left South St. Paul’s Fleming Field in June 2012 on a flight to Duluth and back to break in a new engine.
He was never heard from again and no wreckage of his Piper Navajo airplane was ever found. The NTSB report said the agency has been able to find no clue about the disappearance.
The search focused on the Silver Bay area and Lake Superior, where the former Northwest Airlines pilot was last detected by radar.
The Civil Air Patrol spent more than 600 hours of flight time in the search and finally gave up.
Archive: The mystery of the missing airplane (NewsCut)
