HELENA, MT -- Authorities have released the name of a missing pilot who disappeared along with his agricultural spray plane on Saturday.
The pilot is 39-year-old John Brandner, whose F-A-A records lists a hometown of Spearfish, South Dakota.
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Mercy, I hadn't heard about this. Spearfish is just an hour from here. When my husband was with the Forest Service, we lived there. Wonderful little town. He probably flew out of Clyde Ice field, the very small airport in Spearfish.
I'll check with some friends there to see if I can learn anything new.
| Missing plane last seen in Idaho KTVB, ID - 2 hours ago HELENA, MT -- Authorities in Montana say the search for a missing crop-duster plane has shifted to Idaho. A state aviation official ... |
Missing plane last seen near Mount Borah
05:14 PM MDT on Thursday, May 27, 2004
HELENA, MT -- Authorities in Montana say the search for a missing crop-duster plane has shifted to Idaho.
A state aviation official says a man in Idaho saw news reports about the missing plane, and told authorities today he had seen it last Saturday.
He said the plane was flying west near Mount Borah, about 90 miles east of the Idaho-Montana border, and appeared to be flying up a narrow coulee.
Based on the report, Montana officials suspended their search this afternoon.
And Idaho searchers began concentrating on the area of the reported sighting.
The missing pilot is 39-year-old John Brandner of Spearfish, South Dakota.
He left Fort Benton, Montana, Saturday morning; and stopped for fuel in Dillon en route to Boise, Idaho.
Brandner has a commercial pilot's rating, and was flying to Nevada to work as a contractor, fighting fires with the Forest Service.
Kinda weird.
John Brandner is not listed in the Spearfish directory, at least not now.
A couple of friends there told me they did not know him (and they know everyone. Spearfish is a small town) The Brandners were long ago South Dakota pioneers, but none left around there now.
That's not good.