Overview

• Search teams from Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, Hebgen Basin Rural Fire District and US Forest Service used smartwatch signals to find the wreckage in dense timber near South Plateau Road on July 18.
• The crash site was inaccessible by road, requiring rescuers to extricate remains and airlift them to the Gallatin County deputy coroner’s office.
• Victims were identified as Rodney Conover, 60, Madison Conover, 23, both from Tennessee, and 55-year-old pilot Kurt Enoch Robey of Utah, and their families have been notified.
• FAA safety records classify the aircraft as a Piper Cherokee single-engine plane carrying two crew members and one passenger.
• Federal investigators from the FAA and NTSB are examining flight data and weather reports, noting recent wind gusts of up to 20 mph that may have complicated the flight.