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No serious injuries after small plane makes “hard landing” on I-90

Posted at 7:12 AM, May 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-23 09:12:53-04

A plane has crashed at the Montana/Idaho border at Lookout Pass.

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office could not confirm what type of plane was involved, how many people were on the plane, or what injuries may have been sustained.

The Montana Department of Transportation reports that both eastbound lanes are blocked about a half-mile east of the Idaho border, but traffic is able to get through the median.

MTN News has a reporter heading to the scene from our Missoula station.

We will update you as we get details.


(UPDATE, 4:54 p.m.) A plane crashed on Interstate 90 at Lookout Pass on Tuesday afternoon near the Idaho/Montana state line, officials confirmed. A witness said he watched an experimental airplane glide down onto the highway around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Tim Halbert said he was the one of the first people on the scene and waited with the pilot for emergency responders. He said the pilot was experiencing some back pain and had a few bumps and bruises but walked away from the crash. 

"A sheriff’s deputy that was there told him to go buy a lottery ticket," Halbert said.

Halbert said the pilot told him he had caught a downdraft and his engine quit. Halbert said the pilot told him he couldn’t get the engine going again and glided for a long while looking for a place to put the plane down.

"I knew he was in trouble because he was so low," Halbert recalled. "He just kept getting lower and lower and sure enough, he just crashed."

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