Utah man is one of three killed in Montana plane crash
Jul 21, 2025, 9:00 PM
(GoFundMe)
(GoFundMe)
SALT LAKE CITY — Search and rescue crews in Montana have found a crashed plane and its occupants after it disappeared shortly after takeoff Thursday night.
On Monday, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said that the West Yellowstone Dispatch received a call of a possible plane crash on Friday at approximately 1:41 p.m.
“The U.S. Department of Transportation Aero Division reported that an aircraft that had departed the West Yellowstone Airport with three people on board just before midnight on the night of July 17 could not be located,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
Search crews used the last position of one of the plane occupants’ smart watch to find a possible location of the missing plane.
An hour later search planes found the plane. It was in the dense timber south of West Yellowstone, Montana.
The sheriff’s office said search and rescue crews responded to the crash site and found the plane. The three occupants were killed in the crash.
Authorities identified the three men as 60-year-old Rodney Conover and 23-year-old Madison Conover of Tennessee and 55-year-old Kurt Enoch Robey of Utah.
The sheriff’s office said the cause of the crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
Authorities did not disclose the identity of the plane’s pilot or the reason for their late-night flight.
A GoFundMe* to support Robey’s family says he is from Lehi and had “loved” to fly.
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