Plane goes down in wilderness

The Daily Inter Lake

A single-engine plane crashed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

None of the three people on board were seriously injured.

The ALERT helicopter from Kalispell flew to the scene, but none of the people had to be airlifted out for medical treatment, according to a spokesman for Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

The pilot stayed with his plane, which reportedly was not seriously damaged.

The crash occurred about 2.5 miles southeast of Big Salmon Lake. Big Salmon Lake is about 14 miles northeast of Condon.

The pilot of the downed plane was able to use his radio to talk to another plane flying overhead. That plane relayed the crash site's latitude and longitude to rescuers.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Rangers from the Spotted Bear Ranger Station hiked into the wilderness, reaching the crash site at about 11 p.m. and staying with the pilot overnight.

"Our focus right now is assisting with the logistics of getting the pilot out and dealing with the plane in light of wilderness policies," said Denise Germann, public affairs officer with the Flathead National Forest.

The downed plane landed in Murphy Flat, a grassy meadow near the South Fork Flathead River, Germann said.

"The plane for the most part is intact," she said.

Forest Service officials were working with outfitters to get the pilot a ride out on horseback. Under wilderness management rules, he cannot be flown out because he was not seriously injured.

Once the National Transportation Safety Board completes an investigation, Spotted Bear District Ranger Deb Mucklow will decide how the plane should be extracted from the wilderness.

Airlifting it "is a possibility," Germann said.

The plane was flying from Washington state to an air show in Oshkosh, Wis.

For a complete story, see Wednesday's Daily Inter Lake.