The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a fatal Sept. 19 crash near the Ferndale Airfield in Bigfork.  

The downed plane was an experimental, amateur-built Murphy Moose aircraft, according to the federal agency.  

One person was killed in the wreck, according to KPAX, citing the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to the Daily Inter Lake’s request for information before press time. 

The fixed wing, single-engine plane’s serial number was registered to Creston property owner Bradley Young, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.  

The Ferndale Airfield consists of a grass runway and is managed by the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority, which also operates Glacier Park International Airport.  

Flathead County saw three other small plane crashes this summer, two of them deadly.  

Two Washington men died in July after crashing into trees while taking off from the grass runway at Ryan Airfield, a remote airstrip near West Glacier.  

The next month another pilot died while attempting to land on the airstrip. The amateur-built plane was attempting a go-around when its right wing clipped a tree to the right of the runway, according to a preliminary accident report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.  

The airplane became inverted and impacted terrain nose down, according to the report.  

Also in August, a pilot and three passengers were able to walk away from a fiery wreck after crashing into the Kalispell City Airport.  

The plane, a Socata TBM 700, caught fire after crashing while landing. The burning airplane careened down the runway and collided with other parked aircraft. 

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].