Looking Back: Eighteen-year-old pilot decides to ‘ride it out’
Nate Terming turns his plane back onto its wheels after an accident in May, 1994. (Mark Goldstein photo)
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
May 9, 1974
Assistant County Sanitarian Al Schoenhuth made a presentation to the Whitefish City Council about surface sewage flowing into the Whitefish River. Lab reports showed a series of six samplings, taken in the southwest area of Whitefish. These samples showed the fecal coliform bacteria count ranging from 18 per 100 ml. to 5600 per 100 ml. Schoenhuth stressed the health hazard of such surface effluents, which cause cholera, dysentery, typhoid and other epidemic diseases.
40 Years Ago
May 10, 1984
The State Highway Department announced plans to resurface Highway 93 for about one mile south of town and nearly four miles west of Whitefish. The first of the two-part project would begin near Safeway and extend south 1.2 miles or near the Highway 40 intersection. The two 12-foot driving lanes and two eight-foot shoulders would be repaved. The second section would begin just past the Second Street Bridge and end one mile west of Spencer Lake.
30 Years Ago
May 5, 1994
An 18-year-old Whitefish man narrowly escaped injury when he was forced to land a small airplane in a field five miles west of Whitefish. Nate Terning’s flight began as an evening joy ride and ended when he flipped the aircraft on its top in an emergency landing in a swampy field on the south side of US 93. Terning was about one mile west of Twin Bridges Road when the engine failure occurred. Rather than head back towards Whitefish, he turned west and tried to “ride it out,” he said.
20 Years Ago
May 6, 2004
Whitefish High School Assistant Principal Kent Paulson emerged as the only qualified candidate on a short list of prospects for the principal’s job. Superintendent Jerry House called a faculty meeting to announce his intent to recommend Paulson and was met with applause. “The room erupted into a standing ovation,” House said. “There’s genuine care and support for Kent.” A nationwide search for someone to replace retiring principal Dorothy Schmautz yielded 14 requests for application. Six completed the forms and one pulled out, leaving five hopefuls.
10 Years Ago
May 9, 2014
Whitefish Mountain Resort capped one of its best ski seasons in the last decade. From snorkel-deep powder days to record-breaking skier visits, the 2013-14 winter would go down as one to remember. The season ended with 317 inches of total snowfall and a settled base of 146 inches at the summit – the deepest in Montana. "It was pretty epic with lots of powder days," said lift attendant Fred Harr.