Pilot unhurt in crash

The Daily Inter Lake

A passenger in a commercial airplane reported seeing a small plane crash Thursday afternoon near Glacier Park International Airport.

It was true.

A single-engine plane had crashed at the end of Bayou Road south of Presentine Bar on the Flathead River, but no one was hurt.

According to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office, pilot Ray Zampieri, about 56, was doing touch-and-go landings on his own property in his 1997 Husky airplane.

He reportedly banked, clipped a tree and crashed.

The sheriff's office, Evergreen and Kalispell fire departments responded. Columbia Falls and Badrock fire departments were put on standby.

Once authorities ascertained that there were no injuries, fire or environmental risks, and that the incident took place on the pilot's own property, the investigation was wrapped up.

The incident began when an airline passenger reported a seemingly unlikely story of seeing a plane crash.

That information was relayed to the tower at the airport and then to the sheriff's office. Another Husky airplane had taken off from the airport at about the same time, but that pilot and plane were found to be safe.

A search near the airport turned up nothing immediate, but an air search quickly located the plane south of Presentine Bar.