One person died in a single-plane crash near the Ferndale Airfield in Bigfork Sept. 19, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday. The person has yet to be identified by the coroner’s office, Undersheriff Robert Foster said.
Flathead Emergency Communications Center Director Austin Hicks said the initial call came in at 11:55 a.m. The Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department, Bigfork Fire Department, Glacier Park International Airport Fire Department, the sheriff’s office, Somers-Lakeside Fire Deparmtent and Evergreen Fire Rescue responded to the incident.
The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) posted on X that it was investigating the “Sept. 19 crash of an Experimental, amateur-built Murphy Moose aircraft near Bigfork, Montana” on Friday. A Murphy Moose aircraft, according to Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing, is “a four to six seat, high wing, aluminum kit aircraft.” Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing sells kits to build the aircraft, and its site boasts that it’s designed for first time builders.
The NTSB’s investigation database lists the incident’s status as “in work.” The Aviation Safety Network also has a log of the crash. It states the plane was “destroyed” in the crash and that “a post crash fire ensued.”
The crash is the fourth in Flathead County since late July. Two separate plane crashes occurred at a private recreational airstrip in West Glacier on July 26 and Aug. 12, respectively. A plane crash at the Kalispell City Airport in August also resulted in a fire, but no fatalities.
Foster, who has worked with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office since 2004, said the number of crashes over the summer has been “unusual.”