BRAINERD (AP) &045; A Nisswa couple died when their small airplane crashed in central Wisconsin, family members said.

Family members told the Brainerd Dispatch that Ed and Jann Northway died Tuesday when their Cessna 210 crashed in a heavily wooded area in Waushara County, about 70 miles north of Madison, Wis.

The couple’s son, Ed Northway II, confirmed the deaths for the newspaper.

The Waushara County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin didn’t release any additional information about the crash on Wednesday.

Ed Northway, 57, was a co-founder of Nor-son Inc. in Baxter. Jann Northway, 54, was an artist and an avid runner.

They were flying home after visiting their daughter in Washington, D.C.

They had stopped in the Chicago area, and were making their way back to Minnesota according to a report in Thursday’s edition of the Brainerd Dispatch.

Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the pilot reported a gyro problem that apparently caused the aircraft to go into a spin shortly before the

crash Tuesday morning.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.

Ed Northway had been a pilot for many years. He owned two aircraft, a Cessna 185 floatplane and the Cessna 210.

He flew out of Brainerd until 2002, when he bought his own hangar at the Pine River Airport.

The Northways are survived by five grown children and two grandchildren.