GREAT FALLS — The Powell County Sheriff's Office says that three people died when a small plane crashed in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Friday, October 17, 2025.
The agency said in a news release that at about 4:30 p.m., it received a report of a possible downed aircraft.
The last known location was in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in northern Powell County.
Air resources were deployed from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls and continued to search until around midnight.
At about 9 a.m. on Saturday, an Air Force helicopter found the wreckage of the aircraft in a remote, wooded area in Youngs Creek in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, northeast of Seeley Lake.
Members of the Powell County Coroners Office, Missoula County Search and Rescue, and the Montana DNRC arrived at the scene at about 4 p.m.
The pilot and two other occupants were found dead at the scene.
Sanders Aviation in Jasper, Alabama, shared the following information:
It is with great sadness and broken hearts that we share the passing of our Certified Flight Instructor (CFI/II) Lainey Anderson while she was on a family vacation in Montana. Lainey was tragically killed when the twin engine Aztec her Father was flying developed engine problems not far from their destination in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Lainey, her father and her younger sister were all fatally injured.
Powell County Sheriff Gavin Roselles has turned the investigation over to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead efforts to determine the cause of the crash.
No other details have been released at this point. We will update you if we get more information.
