Pilot killed when firefighting plane crashes into Montana reservoir while scooping up water

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Authorities say a pilot died when a single-engine firefighting aircraft crashed into a Montana reservoir while scooping up water to fight a nearby blaze. The crash was reported shortly after noon Wednesday on Hauser Reservoir on the Missouri River northeast of Helena in Lewis and Clark County. Officials said later that the “scooper” plane’s pilot, a 45-year-old woman, died. They did not provide a name pending notification of next of kin who do not live in the United States, the Independent Record newspaper reports. The plane was fighting the nearby Horse Ridge Fire, a 450-acre human-caused blaze burning in dense timber in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.