Plane Crashes Killing Pilot

Mon., June 8, 1998

From Staff

A single-engine airplane crashed in the mountains northwest of here Sunday, killing the pilot and strewing wreckage over a wide area.

Pilot Thomas Berwager, 46, of Camp Hill, Pa., was alone aboard the Mooney 20, said Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson.

Regional air traffic controllers at Salt Lake City reported the aircraft disappeared from their radar screens at about 10:45 a.m. Sunday, while flying at an altitude of about 14,000 feet.

“There was a sudden drop in altitude, like a 500-foot drop in altitude, and then he fell off the radar screen,” said Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Bill Fleiner.

The pilot was flying from Lewistown to Great Falls, while trying to stay above the clouds, said Jim Greil, the state Aeronautics Division duty officer.

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Plane Crashes Killing Pilot

Jesse Tinsley

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