The pilot killed in an August plane crash near West Glacier clipped trees before inverting and nose-diving into the ground, according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report.  

The crash occurred around 3 p.m., Aug. 12 at Ryan Field, a remote airstrip. The pilot was attempting to land an experimental, amateur-built Vans RV-7A aircraft, according to the report.  

The plane departed from Kalispell City Airport around an hour and a half before the wreck, according to the flight track data. 

On the first landing attempt, the airplane bounced on the runway twice before the pilot initiated a go-around, according to witnesses.  

 The pilot radioed that the plane's oil temperature was high and they needed to fly around the area until it cooled enough to land. 

The airplane bounced on the runway again during the second attempt and the pilot began to initiate another go-around, according to the report.  

But during that maneuver, the plane’s right wing hit a tree on the side of the runway about 55 feet above the ground, rolled upside-down and crashed nose-down, according to the report.  

The aircraft came to rest “in a near vertical attitude” in the woods about 100 feet west of the runway centerline and close to 2,000 feet from the end of the runway, according to the report.  

Witnesses reported that the plane appeared stable and the engine sounded normal just before the crash.  

The pilot was declared dead on scene, and there were no other reported passengers in the aircraft, according to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.  

The wreckage was recovered for further examination. The federal agency typically takes one to two years to complete an investigation.  

THE WRECK occurred a day after a small plane crashed and erupted in flames at Kalispell City Airport.  

The pilot and three passengers walked away from the wreck, which damaged several parked aircraft.  

Ryan Field experienced another plane crash in July that killed two Washington cousins. That plane crashed into trees while attempting to take off from the grass runway.  

The fourth small plane crash of the summer occurred near Ferndale Airstrip in Bigfork on Sept. 19.  

The downed plane was also an experimental, amateur-built aircraft and one person was reportedly killed in the wreck.  

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