Darrell Ward of ‘Ice Road Truckers’ dies in a small-plane crash

Darrell Ward, the “Montana legend” on “Ice Road Truckers,” was killed Sunday in a small-plane crash southeast of Missoula, Mont., along with the pilot of the plane. The History channel star was 52.

Ward had just left the Great American Truck Show in Dallas and was on his way to Montana to film a pilot for a documentary-style show about recovering plane wrecks, his family said in a statement Monday morning on his Facebook page.

The man whose motto was “Any road, any load” joined the show about long-haul truckers on dangerous North American highways in its sixth season. He currently appears with business partner Lisa Kelly on Season 10, which began Aug. 4, and according to his family had just gotten the green light to return for the next cycle.

“Ice Road Truckers has been on for 5 year[s] but he’s been my dad for 21 and I cherished him! I looked up to him he was my rock,” daughter Terra Ward wrote on her father’s Facebook page Monday afternoon. “I called him everyday he taught me everything I know! My Daddy was the best man ever hands down... NO ONE can say they miss him as much as me and my brother hurt for him today!”

She continued: “[N]othing will ever be the same with out his smart mouth there!! And I’m dying over here dreaming of a hug from him ...”

Kelly posted as her Facebook profile picture a simple square of red-and-black plaid, alluding to Ward’s familiar flannel shirt. She too had been at the truck show in Dallas over the weekend.

When Ward wasn’t driving the ice roads, he hauled logs in Montana and occasionally helped local authorities fight fires. He also was active in charitable efforts including the Special Olympics and a food drive for victims of recent flooding in Louisiana.

Missoula County Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Burt told the Associated Press that the pilot appeared to be trying to land at a small airstrip when “something went drastically wrong.” Witnesses say the plane went through a stand of trees, hitting some of them.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is ongoing and more information will be made available at a later time, the family said.

The pilot, 56-year-old Mark Melotz, bought the Cessna 182 on Friday, the AP said.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.

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