Family escapes injury in Friday plane crash

By DAVID REESE

Lake County Leader

A family of three walked away from their plane after it crashed Friday afternoon in Polson.

The family — a couple and their small child— were in a Cessna 180 when it crashed in a small field between Rocky Point Road and Flathead Lake near the Polson airport. The family was not injured, and the child was strapped in a car seat, Polson fire department assistant chief Pete Bishop said.

Bishop said he was driving away from his home on Flathead Lake when he saw the plane flying overhead. He said he could not hear the plane’s engine and it appeared the plane may have lost power.

“They went over the top of me and then the pager went off,” Bishop said.

The airplane is registered to Matthew Schantz of Larkspur, Colo. The pilot  and his wife declined to be interviewed. The plane was loaded with what appeared to be camping gear.

High winds were prevalent in Polson Friday afternoon, with gusts reported by the National Weather Service at 30 mph.

Friday’s crash was the third airplane crash near Polson in the last six months. In December one man died when a Piper Cub crashed near Irvine Flats. Last month a crop duster airplane crashed on Irvine Flats. The pilot was not injured in that crash.