United States: A small plane crashed at a Montana airport on Monday, slamming into parked aircraft and sparking a large fire — but thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, authorities said.
The single-engine plane, carrying four people, was trying to land around 2 pm at Kalispell City Airport, according to Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Investigators say the pilot lost control during the landing, causing the plane to crash onto the runway and then hit several parked planes. The impact set multiple aircraft on fire, and flames spread into a grassy area before crews put them out.
The city-owned airport is located just south of Kalispell, a city in northwest Montana with a population of approximately 30,000 people. Witnesses reported seeing the plane come down at the end of the runway and collide with another aircraft, Kalispell Fire Chief Jay Hagen said, according to the reports by AP News.
All passengers managed to escape on their own once the plane came to a stop. Two people had minor injuries and were treated at the scene.
Ron Danielson, who runs a nearby inn, said he both heard and saw the crash. “It sounded like sticking your head in a bass drum and someone hitting it as hard as they could,” he recalled, describing the loud impact and thick black smoke that followed.
The flight had departed from Pullman, Washington, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The FAA identified the plane as a 2011 Socata TBM 700 turboprop, owned by Meter Sky LLC of Pullman. The company has not yet commented.
Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the FAA and NTSB, said accidents involving planes hitting parked aircraft happen a few times each year in general aviation, as per the Associated Press.
In February, a similar high-profile crash occurred when a Learjet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil veered off a runway in Scottsdale, Arizona, and hit a parked Gulfstream. That incident killed one person, and investigators believe it may have been linked to earlier landing gear damage, though the cause is still under review.
