BUTTE – The owner of a Butte hockey team and his wife walked away with only minor injuries from a small plane crash near the Stevensville Airport.
The Montana Standard reported Butte Cobras owner Michael Burks said the plane started losing altitude when it had a mechanical problem shortly after takeoff on Thursday.
Burks was piloting Beech 36 Bonanza aircraft. He says he could have continued on course but risked hitting a house on the east side of the airport. So instead he veered over an open field, where the plane came down wing first, igniting a small fire that soon burned out.
Burks sustained a scratch to his leg. His wife, Kiomi Glenn Burks, received a few stitches to the side of her head.
The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating.