Plane crashes: Miracles and mourning

The past decade has been a deadly one for pilots and passengers traversing the skies in the Flathead Valley area.

Some of the plane crashes remain seared in our memories, such as the tragedy at Skydive Lost Prairie in May 2007 when a single-engine Cessna went down, killing the pilot, two skydiving instructors and a couple of novice skydivers who were engaged to be married.

While there were many deaths attributable to aircraft crashes in the last 10 years, there were survivors, too.

In November 2006, pilot Addison Clark was flying Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s ALERT rescue helicopter when the engine failed. Clark was able to land the aircraft near the hospital’s helipad with no injuries to the crew, although there was substantial damage to the helicopter. He later earned a rare commendation from Bell Helicopter Co.

Here’s a recap of some of the plane crashes that have made headlines in the Daily Inter Lake since 2000:

Mount Leibig miracle

After being presumed dead in a 2004 plane crash, two people emerged from mountainous terrain near Essex as survivors.

Jodee Hogg, 23, of Billings and Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., managed to make their way to U.S. 2 from the crash site above the treeline on Mount Liebig, a distance of several miles and 2,000 to 3,000 feet in elevation below the crash site.

Ramige was badly burned and suffered a spinal fracture. Hogg had a sprained foot and back. They endured an agonizing 29-hour trek to the highway.

It was a stunning development, considering that when the plane wreckage was found the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office had announced to media and family members that there were no survivors.

“It’s a miracle from God,” one dispatcher declared.

Three others perished in the fiery crash: pilot Jim Long, 60, of Kalispell; Ken Good, 58, of Whitefish, a veteran employee of the Flathead National Forest; and Davita Bryant, 32, of Whitefish.

Long survived the initial impact and managed to unlatch the seat belt of Good and push him from the burning wreckage. But neither Long nor Bryant got out of the burning plane alive, and Good died of his injuries at the crash site.

Grieving families and friends of the crash victims were being briefed by Forest Service officials in Kalispell when it was announced that there were possible survivors.

Loved ones rushed to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where many were overcome with waves of emotion as Ramige and Hogg arrived on two successive flights aboard the ALERT helicopter.

For some, there was immense relief. But for others, there was bitter sorrow. Some expressed anger at the Sheriff’s Office for declaring all passengers dead when a search should have continued.

Until the wreckage was located, the search area was gigantic, covering the expansive drainage between Bear Creek and the Schafer Meadows airstrip in the Great Bear Wilderness, as well as the area along U.S. 2.

The single-engine Cessna 206 G took off from Glacier Park International Airport to deliver the four Forest Service employees to Schafer Meadows, where they were going to conduct forest vegetation inventories as part of a nationwide monitoring project. When the plane failed to arrive at Schafer, a search was launched but was quickly hampered by foul weather.

The National Transportation Safety Board later determined the pilot error caused the crash. Weather also was a factor.

Tragedy at Skydive Lost Prairie

Pilot error was also to blame for a plane crash near Marion in May 2007 that killed all five people on board, the national board determined.

With Troy Norling, 28, of Onalaska, Wis. at the controls, the single-engine Cessna took off from the northern end of Skydive Lost Prairie’s runway carrying the pilot and four skydivers.

Skydiving instructors Joel Atkinson, 25, of Whitefish and David Landeck Jr., 25, of Missoula had been scheduled to make a tandem jump with novice skydivers and sweethearts Kyle Mills, 31, and Jenny Sengpiel, 25, when the plane went down. Mills and Sengpiel were musicians in the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra.

Atkinson was an accomplished parachutist and skydiving was his passion, according to his family.   

Almost immediately, the pilot attempted to circle back for a precautionary landing.

“The aircraft rocked slightly, then appeared to take a sharp left turn causing the nose to dive downward, left wing slightly dipped, and plummet to the ground,” one witness told investigators.

The plane crashed 345 feet south of the runway’s approach end, only five minutes after takeoff.

In examining the wreckage, investigators found damage to the oil filler tube and not to the oil filler cap, suggesting the cap wasn’t secured to the tube when the plane took off.

“The obstructed windscreen, coupled with the airplane’s gross takeoff weight being exceeded, would most probably explain the pilot’s loss of control while attempting to return to the runway,” the report said.

However, an examination of portions of the oil system found no oil residue on pieces of the windshield or other engine parts.

The investigation revealed that plane was about 165 pounds over maximum weight, and the center of gravity was toward the rear of the plane at the time of the accident. But while it may have contributed to the crash, the center of gravity was still within the operating envelope and the plane was only slightly overweight, National Transportation Safety Board officials said. 

Kalispell neighborhood crash

Church-goers were just leaving the 11 a.m. service at Kalispell’s Bethel Baptist Church when a single-engine airplane plunged into a wood-frame house at 921 Fourth Ave. W. on Aug. 29, 2004. The home was empty except for a large dog that apparently was killed when the plane crashed into the front porch.

Both the pilot, Steve Schuldheiss, 63, of Lakeside and his passenger, Ray Zinke, 63, of Kalispell died in the crash. Schuldheiss was described as a conscientious and competent pilot. The men had left Kalispell City Airport at about noon after the pilot had passed a biennial flight review with a local flight instructor.

A Kalispell police officer who was dispatched to the crash discovered it happened at the home in which he was living. Neither he nor the owner of the house was at home. 

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the 1952 Beech C35 single-engine plane was starved for fuel. The plane has five fuel tanks and not all were empty, according to the board. However, a fuel-tank selector was not engaged on any of the tanks, so the plane received fuel from none of them.

According to the federal report, the instructor said that after signing the pilot’s logbook he instructed him to check the fuel.

“There was no record to indicate that the airplane was refueled between the check flight and the accident flight. There was also no record to indicate when the airplane was last refueled prior to the instructional flight.”

Several witnesses reported seeing the plane or hearing its engine sputter and then start and stall again as it was about to turn onto its final approach to the airport runway. The plane lost altitude, banked to the left, then “went vertical” before going straight down, witnesses said.

Hugh Rogers

Hugh Rogers was on his way home to Whitefish on his 50th birthday April 1, 2009, when his 1967 Maule M-4 single-engine airplane crashed onto the ice of Hungry Horse Reservoir. Friends and family of the beloved veterinarian were gathered for a surprise party when they got word the plane had gone down.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office began searching for Rogers’ plane, which was based out of Glacier Park International Airport, after a satellite picked up an emergency locator beacon near the reservoir that afternoon.

Rescue personnel on snowmobiles with North Valley Search and Rescue and Flathead County Search and Rescue found the wreckage at about 12:30 a.m. the next day, on the reservoir about 35 miles south of Hungry Horse Dam. The ALERT helicopter also assisted in the search, which was hampered by strong winds, snow and poor visibility.

Four search-and-rescue members stayed overnight with Rogers’ body

Rogers had a private pilot’s license and enjoyed anything having to do with the backcountry, including flying, fishing, hiking and horseback riding.

But it was his wide-reaching humanitarian work that earned him admiration among Flathead Valley’s animal-care community.

Rogers’ crash was the third fatal airplane crash in Montana in just over two weeks. Sparky Imeson of Helena was killed when his Cessna 180 crashed near Canyon Ferry Lake on March 17.

Fourteen people were killed when their Pilatus PC-12 crashed near Bert Mooney Airport in Butte on March 22. The plane carried three young families from California, including seven children under the age of 10, who were traveling to Montana for a ski vacation.

In early December the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report indicated Rogers might have become disoriented because of low visibility. A final report is due sometime next year.

Jewel Basin fatalities

A Whitefish couple died in a plane crash in May 2005 on Mount Aeneas in the Jewel Basin Hiking Area east of Kalispell.

Martin White, 61, a dentist retired from Southern California, and his wife, Penelope “Penny” White, 54, reportedly were on their way to an air show in Dallas when they died.

Their Cessna 210 crashed minutes after leaving Glacier Park International Airport.

“There was no indication of any trouble,” Sheriff Jim Dupont said at the time. Pilot Penny White was in contact with the airport tower before the crash.

Dupont said he believed she was crossing the ridge of Mount Aeneas in clouds and hit a thunderstorm that “violently shook them up” and she lost control. She has instrument flight certification, which allows pilots to fly in poor visibility.

The plane’s wings probably stalled, starting an intense spin, Dupont surmised. From an altitude of about 12,000 feet, the plane fell to about 6,100 feet within moments, he believes. It plummeted straight into the ground, creating a crater about 6 feet deep and 10 feet wide.