Winfield, W. Va. ? A private plane crashed near a rural home in West Virginia after straying hundreds of miles off course as National Guard fighter plane crews tried unsuccessfully to contact the pilot.

The body of the pilot, the only person on board, was found in the wreckage after the plane crashed Friday night, said Frank Chapman, director of Putnam County’s emergency services office in Winfield. There was no immediate indication whether he died in the crash or was already dead.

No one on the ground was injured.

The twin-engine Beech Baron 56TC took off from Glendive, Mont., Friday evening for a 600-mile flight to St. Paul, Minn., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said Saturday. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane after it “overflew its destination,” she said.

The pilots of F-16s based in Wisconsin intercepted the plane near Madison and tracked it to Michigan, where it was picked up by pilots of two F-16s based near Detroit. The military pilots fired flares to attract the pilot’s attention, but were not able to make contact.