Pilot OK after plane crash

A Bozeman man walked away with only minor scratches after crashing his plane a few hundred yards from the Polson airport last Friday morning, after trying to land in an open field because of an equipment malfunction.

Gerald Robert Meyers, 62, was shaken up but not badly injured after he attempted to land in the field in plain view of the runway shortly before 9 a.m., after his rudder jammed, preventing him from being able to turn the plane moments before touching down. Meyers told Sheriff's deputy Glenn Miller that as he lined up his plane with the runway, it suddenly veered to the left, and could only fly to the left, preventing Meyers from being able to land safely at the airport.

Faced with the fact that he couldn't make the airport's runway — which also meant flying over the Flathead River — Meyers continued to circle the area, and thought it was best to land in an open field nearby. He landed on a slight incline, though, and his plane bounced up suddenly, flipping over completely and coming to a stop.

Sheriff's deputies, Polson police, fire and ambulance crews responded to the scene, as did Steve Stanley with the county's Office of Emergency Management, following reports of the plane crash, but they found Meyers walking around the wreckage with only minor cuts. The plane, a Luscombe Silvaire 8E, was heavily damaged, and was registered to a friend of Meyers' out of Bozeman.