Insurer Resists Payment in Mont. Aviation Crash

The sole survivor of a 2004 plane crash that killed three men is demanding the aircraft’s insurer cover more than $46,000 in unpaid medical bills, but the insurance company is resisting.

AIG Aviation Inc., the insurer, said paying for the medical care of Don Olson would be premature because the National Transportation Safety Board has not determined why the single-engine plane crashed last Dec. 4. The plane went down on Sacajawea Peak northeast of Bozeman, Montana.

An AIG representative has said the crash appears to have been a case of pilot error. Olson maintains a malfunction in the Cirrus 22 caused it to crash.

A lawsuit on Olson’s behalf was filed against AIG and a letter demanding payment of medical bills has been attached to the case file.

Olson, a mechanic in his early 20s, suffered burns, frostbite and internal injuries. He is from the Gallatin Valley, as were the three men who died.

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