Small plane crash lands; no injuries

The Daily Inter Lake

A small plane dropping skydivers had to make an emergency landing at the Skydive Lost Prairie airstrip late Saturday afternoon, flipping onto its top.

No one was injured.

The plane's landing gear fell off as the plane was dropping skydivers at roughly 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office.

The pilot flew the plane for another 1 1/2 hours to burn off fuel before attempting to land at Lost Prairie.

Meanwhile, the Marion and Fisher River fire departments, the ALERT helicopter and sheriff's deputies rushed to the airstrip.

Then the plan approached the runway from the south, crash landing short of it - flipping over, the Sheriff's Office said. The pilot was not hurt.

This is the second airplane crash in Flathead County in one week.

Whitefish veterinarian Hugh Rogers died April 1 when his plane - which he was flying solo - crashed into the ice of Hungry Horse Reservoir.

Federal investigators of that accident will now look into the Lost Prairie accident, the sheriff's office said.

This is also the second crash within two years at Lost Prairie.

Four skydivers and a pilot were killed in May 2007 while trying to land at the same runway. A federal investigation pointed at pilot error as the cause.

Lost Prairie is four miles north of McGregor Lake and 32 miles west of Kalispell