No one injured when plane crashes into Kalispell house

The airplane that crashed into a Kalispell home was removed from the structure Sunday and a fire official estimated total damage at roughly $50,000.

Kalispell Fire Department Chief Dave Dedman said the plane, a single-engine Piper, is headed to a shop for inspection by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Investigators will look for the reason the plane crashed shortly after taking off Saturday afternoon from the Kalispell City Airport.

Two passengers and a pilot survived the wreck and took themselves to the hospital; the airplane is registered to Michael Seaman of Kalispell, who could not be reached for comment Sunday by press time. Two dogs also survived the crash, as did the owner of the home the plane hit.

"We have turned the house back over to the homeowner," Dedman said. "He's got a company coming in to do some safety work in there and close up the hole in the wall and get his (power and gas) services going."

The wreck occurred on Ruddy Duck Drive, and that road and Golden Eye Court were slated to reopen Sunday afternoon after being closed because of the crash, according to the fire chief.

On Sunday, neighbors who witnessed the incident or its aftermath said they are relieved the three people and their pets survived when the airplane clipped a couple of trees, hit three unoccupied cars, and then flipped upside down and slid into the house. The airplane passengers sustained minor injuries, according to an FAA spokesman.

"I was hoping no one was dead," said Barbara Sullivan, who lives kitty corner from the site. "That was the first thing I thought. And I'm amazed that nobody is."

Others in the neighborhood who witnessed the airplane coming down told Sullivan it appeared the pilot was trying to land on Ruddy Duck, so he must have known he was in trouble. One neighbor told the Daily Inter Lake the group was flying to Havre; the FAA could not confirm the destination.

In an email, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the cause of the crash remains unknown. He noted the plane is a Piper PA28, and the lead investigating agency is the National Transportation Safety Board.

"The NTSB investigator usually posts a basic preliminary report on the agency's website ... within a week or two of an accident," Kenitzer said in the email. "However, it typically takes NTSB months to come up with a probable cause for accidents."

Kalispell City Airport manager Fred Leistiko said the plane was based at that airport, and it had just rolled out of its hangar and refueled before taking off. The airport doesn't keep a log of flight plans because it doesn't have a traffic control tower; pilots use their own discretion and judgment about weather and other factors.

"We're very fortunate no one was (seriously) injured," Leistiko said.



The runway isn't far from the neighborhood where the plane crashed, so the wreck likely will affect the controversial discussion about an airport expansion. The project was estimated at $15 million a couple of years ago, with the FAA paying the bulk of the cost.

Airport Advisory Board member Richard Rapacilo said the Kalispell City Council is just weeks away from voting on the airport improvement project. Among other things, it would widen and move the runway.

"They want to realign the runway and move it a little to the south so the airplane traffic won't be flying through the center of town," Rapacilo said.

He said the last time a plane crashed into the neighborhood was five years ago. An advocacy group called the Quiet Skies Committee has concerns about the negative effects of the airport, and Rapacilo believes members will use the accident to trump up support for their cause and try to shut down the airport.

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