Day 4: Searchers Expand Hunt for Missing Minn Pilot

Volunteers from Minnesota's Civil Air Patrol have entered the fourth day of searching for Pilot Andrew Lindberg. The Minneapolis man disappeared last Friday on his way from the Air-Lake Airport near Lakeville on his way to Hallock Minnesota.

Lindberg was flying from Air Lake Airport to Hallock, Minn., to meet family. His aircraft is a white PA-28 Piper Cherokee with yellow stripes and black highlights. The plane left the Air Lake Airport in Lakeville, Minn., on Friday, Nov. 13. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., alerted CAP the aircraft was missing early on the morning of Nov. 14.

Air and ground search teams have been searching Lindberg's flight path since Saturday. Eighteen CAP planes are currently in the air, with a number of ground personnel also searching in and around Becker, Mahnomen, Red Lake, Marshall, Hubbard, Polk, Pennington, Todd and Wadena counties. The searches are conducted from dawn to dusk and based out of Brainerd Regional Airport.

As of today, no signs of Andrew Lindberg or his plane have been found; however, Lt. Lion Templin, Public Information Officer of the Minnesota CAP, did acknowledge that a number of local leads are currently being investigated.

"A lot of the leads we have taken a look at either from the air or the ground have been discounted," Templin said, noting that hundreds of calls have been pouring into the CAP command center from residents across Northern Minnesota.  "But the ones that make since, we've investigated and are currently investigating." 

Authorities say the last word form Lindberg was a text message to his wife telling her that he was half way to his destination.

CAP is requesting that pilots stay out of the airspace between St. Cloud and Foston, Minn., to avoid interefering with search operations.

Anyone with information believed to be related to the pilot and his aircraft are encouraged to contact their local law enforcement, which is working directly with CAP.