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Victims of fatal Flathead County plane crash identified, preliminary NTSB report released

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Posted at 3:16 PM, May 19, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-19 17:16:07-04

KALISPELL – The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of the two people who died when their small plane crashed in the West Valley area late last month.

Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino says 63-year-old Joe Angle of Kalispell and 61-year-old Kimberly Hebert of Hungry Horse died when their aircraft crashed on Church Drive on April 30.

A preliminary report issued Thursday by the NTSB states several people heard a loud bang and saw a wing falling to the ground.

A security camera that captured the plane about one second before impact showed the aircraft in a nosedive and spinning to the right. Additionally, the right wing was missing.

The aircraft was "an experimental amateur-built Bearhawk LSA, N1908A," according to the preliminary NTSB report.

The plane was en route from the Kalispell City Airport to the Eureka airport when it went down.

Click here to read the full preliminary report (pdf).

The NTSB is continuing to investigate the crash.