Plane that crashed into Hungry Horse Reservoir last year ran out of gas
The site of a plane crash near Doris Point at Hungry Horse Reservoir. (Flathead County Sheriff's Office photo)
A plane that crash-landed into the Hungry Horse Reservoir last November ran out of fuel, according to a National Transportation Board investigation published Oct. 10.
Both the pilot and the passenger survived the Nov. 18, 2023 crash, which happened in the water near the Doris Boat launch. The A.L.E.R.T. helicopter and Two Bear Air collectively rescued the occupants, who came away with minor injuries according to the NTSB report.
The pilot’s name was never released.
The pilot was flying from Great Falls to Kalispell when he requested permission to land. But the Kalispell airport was under instrument flight only rules at the time and he was not cleared to land.
“The pilot made the decision to maneuver to the southeast to ascertain whether they should return to their home airport or land at a nearby airport and wait for the weather to clear. Shortly after departing the area enroute to an alternate airport, the airplane lost engine power. The pilot promptly attempted to restart the engine; however, his efforts were unsuccessful. The pilot subsequently executed a forced landing into (the Hungry Horse Reservoir) resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage,” the report found. “The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He reported that there was no engine roughness or warnings before the engine quit, and it sounded as if the airplane ran out of fuel. He reported that he departed with 26.1 gallons of fuel and, according to the inflight computer, had about 5.72 gallons of remaining fuel when they arrived at the destination airport.”
But the calculations were incorrect and he was out of fuel and lost power, thus forcing the landing in the reservoir.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be the pilot’s inadequate fuel planning and improper in-flight decision-making, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion,” the report found.