David Scott Partlow, 29, vanished on the afternoon of May 8, 1987, after a hang gliding flight from Blaine Mountain northeast of Kalispell in Flathead County, Montana. Heavy unexpected winds carried his glider north while his three friends flew south; observers saw him drawn upward and out of sight. An official search involving as many as 80 people and two helicopters lasted two days with no sign of him, though his friends kept searching.

Several weeks later a pilot spotted Partlow’s hang glider in a clearing on the east side of Columbia Mountain, about seven miles from the launch. The glider was largely intact with a deployed parachute lying flat nearby; his helmet and a rucksack with some survival supplies were recovered. Searchers also found a wool sock and fragments of an insulated vest believed to be his. Investigators note he had Air Force survival training but likely was inadequately dressed for deep snow and severe cold and may have succumbed to exposure. His body has never been recovered; a death certificate was issued in 2019.

Did anyone in the area at the time see or hear anything that could explain where he went after that landing site?