Twenty months after a small plane crashed in rural Indiana killing three Wisconsin men, including Kewaunee County dairy farmer John Pagel, investigators still can not be certain how the accident happened. In a final report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board, experts say the probable cause of the mishap may have been an in-flight loss of control for reasons that could not be determined.

The report notes that shortly after take-off, Saari told an air traffic controller the plane was 'a little out of control' and that he had difficulties keeping the aircraft level.

As Wisconsin Ag Connection reported at the time, Pagel, who was 58, was traveling with his son-in-law Steve Witcpalek and pilot Nathan Saari when the small Cessna aircraft went down about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis on February 22, 2018.

Pagel was serving as president of the Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, and was also a member of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Dairy Business Association, Kewaunee school board, Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors, and the Wisconsin Deer Management Control Council.