Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Authorities name 2 men in plane missing over Lake Michigan

FRANKFORT — Authorities have released the names of two men they believe were aboard a small plane that departed from Ontonagon Sunday and went missing over Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported Wednesday that the Benzie County sheriff’s office lists the missing men as 65-year-old Randal Dippoid, of Perry, and 53-year-old Emanuel Manos, of Monroe.

It isn’t clear which man was piloting the plane that dropped off radar Sunday night about 4 miles west of Frankfort.

The plane reportedly was having engine trouble and controllers had directed it to an airport in Frankfort when it vanished. Authorities have said the plane took off from Ontonagon and was heading to Monroe in southeastern Michigan.

The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search of Lake Michigan on Monday, but other efforts to find the plane continued — including a shoreline search for debris and the possibility of a volunteer bringing sonar equipment to the effort.

The sheriff’s office says the search now is a recovery mission.

The aircraft — a red and white Beechcraft Bonanza — is registered at N1561Z to Evergreen Exploration in Howell, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

—Daily Globe staff