MISSOULA — The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report about a July 26 plane crash that took the lives of two people near West Glacier.
The crash happened shortly before 9:45 a.m. at Ryan Field when the small plane crashed while taking off from the privately-owned grass airstrip.
The NTSB reports that a witness noticed the flaps of the airplane were retracted during takeoff.
The plane did not become airborne until it reached the end of the runway, where it then "collided with trees and terrain," the report states.
The aircraft then caught on fire.
Dwight Steffanson, 69, of College Place, Washington and Thomas Gladden, 68, of Otis Orchards, Washington, died in the crash.
Click here to view the NTSB report.
