Engine fails, pilot glides down safely
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POLSON — A Colorado family survived a plane crash about a half a mile up Rocky Point Road north of Polson.
The pilot of the 1946 Taylorcraft said he and his wife and 2-year-old son were flying at a high altitude sightseeing when they experienced engine failure, according to Lake County Sheriff Don Bell.
The pilot said there was a headwind, and he tried to glide the aircraft into the Polson airport. When he realized he couldn’t make the airport, he chose a field off Rocky Point Road. Sheriff Bell said the pilot banked the plane and landed in the pasture, missing Flathead Lake and the power poles.
“From where he landed to where the plane stopped was 115 feet,” Bell said.
A Helena Federal Aviation Administration officer was in Polson visiting his father for Father’s Day and came to the crash site within 10 minutes.
