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Two Trout Creek men were injured when the small airplane they were flying in crashed into trees along Blue Slide Road.

"Things didn't turn out like we planned. We were extremely lucky," said Jim Williams, who was in the plane with Jim Craik.

Williams was treated at Clark Fork Valley Hospital for a back injury and was released last Friday. Craik broke his shoulder blade and a rib in the crash and shattered one vertebra. He underwent surgery to fuse a shattered vertebra at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. Craik was released from the hospital and came home to Trout Creek on Monday.

"I'm a Christian, therefore I don't believe in luck," Craik said. "I was extremely blessed by my heavenly father." Craik, a pilot who also serves as a flight instructor, said this is the first time he has been involved in a plane crash in 48 years and more than 10,000 hours of flying.

The plane was an Avid Flyer that Williams and his son built. Williams said the plane is totaled. The crash happened near the runway at the Williams residence. Craik said they were coming in for a landing when the sink rate got fast. "We were sinking toward the ground and I knew we were going to have a hard landing." Craik said Williams's son Jamey saw the plan coming down and was there within a couple minutes.

"We basically ended up facing the way we were coming, just upside down," Craik noted. "The engine was wide open and neither of us could reach the throttle. The engine ran out of gas in about 30 seconds and by that time Jamey was there. It all happened fast."

Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel said that there was no structure damage in the incident, and that Sanders County Sheriff's Office and local fire and ambulance crews responded. Both men were transported to Clark Fork Valley Hospital, and Craik was later taken to Missoula by ambulance. "They didn't walk away from the crash, but they were both very fortunate," Rummel said, adding that the plane was about 100 yards from the runway.

Rummel said there was no indication as to the cause of the crash and that the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.