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On Monday,
September 20, 2004, a Cessna 206 with five people on-board
crashed in the Great Bear Wilderness in Northwest Montana.
Two days later, two survivors of the crash walked
out of the wilderness. It was one of those amazing human interest
stories that immediately captured the attention of the national media.
At 3 p.m. on September 20th, a contract pilot for the U.S. Forest
Service, departed Glacier International Airport with four Forest Service
employees on-board. They were headed to a remote landing strip at Shafer
Meadows in the Great Bear Wilderness area. For those who are unfamiliar
with this area, the Bob Marshall, Great Bear, Scape Goat Wilderness
Complex is more than a million acres of rugged, roadless wilderness with
mountain peaks more than 8,000 feet above sea level. To the north of
this complex is Glacier National Park (1.4 million acres) with mountains
soaring to more than 10,000 feet. A single, two lane highway separates
Glacier National Park from the Wilderness Complex. To the west is the
Flathead National Forest.
The flight was originally scheduled to depart at 1 p.m. but was delayed
due to weather conditions. The last radar contact was at 3:08 p.m. At
3:15 p.m., the aircraft checked in with USFS dispatch and reported their
position as “Essex, inbound for Shafer.” This was the last radio
communication with the aircraft.
An air search was initiated by the Forest Service of the most likely
places the pilot might have put down. The missing aircraft was not
located and no ELT signal was received.
The weather in the area at that time was poor with thunderstorms,
lightening, hard rain/snow and windy conditions. The cloud ceiling was
low and the mountains were obscured.
In Montana, the county Sheriff has legal jurisdiction for Search and
Rescue with one exception. Searches for missing/overdue aircraft fall
under the jurisdiction of a state agency called the Montana Aeronautics
Division. They are responsible for conducting the air search. Once the
missing aircraft has been located, legal authority/jurisdiction shifts
to the county Sheriff.
At 6:00 p.m., Montana Aeronautics personnel determined that the weather
was too bad to continue the air search during the evening hours. Search
aircraft from Malmstrom Air Force Base were called back due to weather.
The Sheriff’s Office and Forest began coordinating a ground search.
North Valley Rescue (Columbia Falls, MT) was placed on standby to be
sent in if the aircraft wreckage was located in an area that was not
accessible by helicopter. Although the summer fire season was over, the
Forest Service still had numerous season personnel in the area.
Throughout Monday evening, USFS personnel drove the few back roads from
West Glacier to the Summit listening for ELT signals and looking for
signal lights, fires or any other indication of a plane crash.
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