Heartbreaking news from the NW corner of the state yesterday when a skydiving plane crashed, killing two students, two instructors, and the pilot. The two students were from Great Falls:
Names of those killed were not released immediately. The pilot was from out of state, the novice jumpers were from Great Falls, one of the instructors lived in Whitefish and the other in Missoula, said (the) owner of Skydive Lost Prairie.
Still too early to know what caused the crash, although it is reported that the plane executed a 180-degree turn before falling 500 feet to the ground. Damn.
UPDATE, May 14: the Great Falls victims were identified as Jennifer Sengpiel and Kyle Mills, who were members of the Great Falls symphony. More information from the Trib. Just damn.
UPDATE, May 15: Osbasso, a blogger and musician from Helena, has an entry about the two Great Falls musicians who perished, and notes that a fellow Helena blogger was originally scheduled to be on the same flight.
It does hit close to home…that is where my dad went skydiving when he turned 70. Of course it was 17 years ago, but still, I grew up in Whitfish, too. It is a small world, and filled with dangers, even without seeking any out. There were two motorcyclists killed Saturday east of Great Falls just turning around on the highway…