A Lawrence man died when the single-engine airplane he was flying crashed Tuesday in central South Dakota. Scott Radford, 41, was killed when his Cessna 182 airplane crashed near Gettysburg, S.D.

Radford’s aircraft departed Dickinson, N.D., on Tuesday morning, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

It was scheduled for a refueling stop in Mitchell, S.D., before its final destination of Lawrence Municipal Airport.

The aircraft was found around 5 a.m. Wednesday in rural Potter County, S.D., about 123 miles northwest of Mitchell.

The cause of the crash is not yet known. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site of the crash Wednesday afternoon.

According to Lloyd Hetrick of the Lawrence Municipal Airport, Radford owned Allied Body Shop, 800 E. 23rd, until he recently sold it. Lately, Radford had been running his own roofing business.

The Civil Air Patrol was contacted to begin searching for the plane when Radford did not arrive Tuesday. A ground team and the Potter County sheriff followed a radar track of the Cessna 182 and found the crash about 5 a.m. Wednesday, said Lt. Col. Mike Beason, of the Civil Air Patrol.

The airplane had left Dickinson, N.D., about 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, headed to Kansas, with a planned fuel stop in Mitchell, S.D. Radford was alone in the plane.

Hetrick said the pilot couldn’t stop because of bad weather.

Radford was due into Lawrence about 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. Tuesday, and his family began making calls when he did not return home.

Search and rescue didn’t start until about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Hetrick said he was called overnight to check and see if the plane was in the hangar at the Lawrence airport.

For more on this story, see the 6News report at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s Channel 6 and pick up a copy of Thursday’s Journal-World.