By Michael Howell
A Beechcraft Bonanza airplane crashed last Thursday at about 1 p.m. in the afternoon while taking off from the Stevensville Airport. The pilot, Michael Burks, and his wife Kiomi, of Missoula, walked away from the wreck with minor injuries.
In an interview with KPAX news, the pilot said that he believed they were not in the air for more than 10 seconds when the nose of the plane suddenly turned downward.
“My wife thought one hundred percent that we were done,” said Burks. “It’s not like in a car where you can just pull over.” Burks said that if they continued straight they were headed towards some homes so he banked right to avoid the houses.
“Witnesses who saw the crash said there was no way we should have lived,” said Burks. “No way that the plane should have landed flat.” He called it a “miracle, divine intervention.”
Burks said after hitting the ground he and his wife looked over and saw the right wing on fire. He said they had no time to think, got out of the plane immediately and walked away. They both sustained slight injuries. His leg was scraped and a cut on his wife’s head took four stitches.
Burks said he wasn’t sure what happened to the plane to make it lose power. He said the plane was in good condition and was being maintained well.
Craig Thomas, Chairman of the Airport Board, told the Star that a close friend of his saw the accident and the subsequent fireball, grabbed a fire extinguisher and arrived on the scene almost immediately. Within another few minutes more volunteers arrived. They were followed up by EMTs and police fairly quickly.
Thomas said that the volunteer response was as good as anyone could ever expect.
“It was a bad day, but a good day,” said Thomas. “The plane was wrecked, but they walked away with only minor injuries.” Thomas said that the plane had just taken on about 70 gallons of fuel and was probably loaded with luggage and two passengers.
“It was carrying a load and the pilot was taking off up-hill with a quartering tailwind,” said Thomas. He said those conditions make take off more difficult. He said the Beechcraft was not a simple airplane, either. He said it is turbo charged and has retract able landing gear, making it a little more complicated than the average plane at the airport.
Thomas said that he was very impressed by the response of the volunteers and at the way the plane took the crash.
“They are designed to crinkle up instead of break apart,” said Thomas. “This plane is crinkled from one end to the other. It worked just like it should.” He called the outcome “very lucky, very, very lucky.”