Disasters · Harlan Gulch crashHamilton plane crash: Sole pilot found dead after overnight searchWritten November 6, 2026 at 4:40 AM UTCWatchTranscript0:07Search crews found one pilot dead at the crash site.0:10He was alone aboard the aircraft, and crews had searched through the night to find0:15him.0:15Investigators still have to determine why his plane went down.0:19The plane went down in the Harlan Gulch area, south of Hamilton, Montana, and east0:24of U.S.0:25Highway93 .0:27The pilot was believed to be from Hamilton, the same community near where searchers0:32found the wreckage.0:33A resident heard a sound that could have been an aircraft crash and alerted0:37authorities.0:38The pilot was later reported overdue.0:41Those two alerts set the search in motion Wednesday night, but crews couldn't locate0:45the wreckage in the darkness.0:47Deputies and search and rescue members continued looking overnight.0:51They found the crash site Thursday morning, after daylight returned.0:55The Wednesday night alerts and Thursday morning discovery marked the search0:59timeline.1:00The exact time the aircraft went down hasn't been given.1:04Weather and fog prevented search aircraft from operating.1:07So the Rivali County Sheriff's Office deployed drones.1:11Early efforts couldn't track the aircraft or its flight well enough to pin down its1:16location.1:17Crews still had to reach the area on foot.1:21Deputies and search crews hiked in to reach the wreckage.1:25Rivali County Sheriff Coroner Steve Holton confirmed the pilot was pronounced dead1:30at the scene.1:31He also confirmed that nobody else had been aboard the aircraft.1:35Authorities tentatively identified the pilot as a forty-three-year-old man from1:39Hamilton.1:40His name hasn't been released, with notification of next of kin still pending.1:45Completing that identification and notifying his family are the immediate steps1:50before a public identification.1:52The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause.1:56Fog hampered the search, but investigators haven't said what brought the plane down.Read the articleStory timelineHeyDex
