Two Found Dead In Plane Wreckage

Two people were found dead Sunday in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in the Bridger Mountains northwest of Bozeman Saturday evening.

The pilot was a man, and the passenger was believed to be a woman who answered an ad posted at Montana State University for a ride to Portland, Gallatin County Sheriff Bill Slaughter said.

He withheld their names until relatives could be notified.

Slaughter said the single-engine plane was returning to Bozeman from Portland when it dropped off radar screens just before dark Saturday afternoon.

A helicopter from Malmstrom Air Force Base at Great Falls found the wreckage at midmorning Sunday, homing in on its emergency locater beacon, the sheriff said.

The plane crashed in the Bridger Mountains about 30 miles northwest of Bozeman, some five miles from Pass Creek School.

Searchers worked through the night, but rain and snow as well as darkness hampered the search. Weather also prevented airplanes from helping until Sunday morning.