Airplane loses control after landing at Bozeman Airport and veers off the runway

BOZEMAN – A small plane veered off the runway at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) on Tuesday evening, August 27, 2024, causing one flight to divert and two others to circle the airport.

I spoke with Brian Sprenger, President and CEO of BZN, who told me that at about 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, a small Beech Bonanza plane landed, lost control and veered off the runway.

As the plane left the runway, the nose gear collapsed, as you can see in this photo by Jordan Lemmon.

Jordan Lemmon

It took the FAA and NTSB about 90 minutes to inspect and safely release the plane. Shortly after the incident, an Alaska Airlines flight arrived from Seattle.

The plane did not have enough fuel to circle the area for 90 minutes and had to divert to Billings-Logan International Airport to refuel. The detour added two hours to the flight.

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Two other flights were required to circle the area while waiting for the aircraft to be recovered, but these flights did not need to be diverted.

There were no injuries in this incident and the aircraft was recovered safely.

According to Sprenger, it is still not known why the plane went out of control.