Two survive plane crash near Paradise

A SMALL twin propeller airplane crashed Tuesday, Jan. 3, at about 9:15 a.m., approximately 200 yards behind the Montana Rail Link railroad in Paradise. (Douglas WIlks photos/Clark Fork Valley Press)

by Douglas Wilks & Megan Strickland Special to Clark Fork Valley
| January 11, 2017 4:00 AM

A SMALL twin propeller airplane crashed Tuesday, Jan. 3, at about 9:15 a.m., approximately 200 yards behind the Montana Rail Link railroad in Paradise. (Douglas WIlks photos/Clark Fork Valley Press)

Two men walked away from an airplane crash near Paradise on the morning of Jan. 3.

Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel said the crash was reported at 9:30 a.m., and involved a small twin-engine plane that crash landed southeast of Paradise in a field between the railroad tracks and a nearby river. Debris was scattered at the site for about 150 yards.

Two Montana Rail Link employees reported seeing two individuals walking around the plane following the crash.

“It’s amazing these guys were able to walk away,” Rummel said, making note that the plane appeared to be completely totaled.

The two individuals riding in the plane were transported to the hospital in Plains, Rummel said. He did not have more information about the extent of the injuries suffered.

Rummel said the plane was flying from Missoula to Seattle when it went down. He did not have any insight to the cause of the crash.

The plane is registered to Summit International American Ltd., based in Bellevue, Washington. The plane was manufactured in 2014 and has an experimental classification associated with it.

Currently, the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting the investigation into what caused the plane to crash. The findings of that investigation may not be released to the public until the investigation is final, which could take between 12-18 months.