Some of the countrys most dangerous it terrain. Theres mountain lions, coyotes, not where you want to see yourself, let alone a young girl. A search becomes a race against time. If it got dark, it would really add to the chance she would end up dying out there. Had a girls dream turned deadly . Mom and dad, i crashed my plane. A treacherous journey leading to an astounding discovery. What was that like to see . It was a shock. Im lester holt. Welcome to a special sunday edition of dateline. Tonight, keith more son with into the wild. Reporter there are places in the American West that, quite rightly, inspire fear, along with awe. Like the wild haunts of grizzlies in wyomings absaroka mountains. Like the overconfident heart of a precocious teenage girl. Like the terrified love of a parent when the girl is gone. You have no control. Youre in gods hands, so to speak. I mean, it was miserable. But her . Nobody thought it would happen to Mckenzie Morgan. Youre just quiet. Because theres not a thing that we can do. Hi to mckenzies parents steve and kristy, she was always exceptional, their supergirl. Mckenzies the type of kid that started reading at 2 . 2 1 2 . Started speaking in sentences at a yearandahalf. She excelled in school. Threw a wicked curveball. And had a sixth sense for the outdoors developed elk hunting with her dad. Shes a great kid. But shes always wanted to go off and do the next thing. The next thing. Do it as good as you can. More than anything, mckenzie wanted to fly. Packaged in her genes. Greatgrandfather, grandfather, uncles like jared hanson all pilots. Mckenzies uncle and grandpa got together. We talked and said that if she wants to do it, lets help her out. Her parents were fine with it too. A lot of people would look at this and say, come on, you really feel okay about letting your daughter go off and fly an airplane at that age . I see kids these days and they dont even communicate. They sit and text. Yeah. Our daughter chose to go up and fly in an airplane. I was more scared of her driving than flying. When mckenzie was 17, her uncle loaned her his cessna 172, and her grandfather paid for flying lessons. Bobby powers was mckenzies teacher. Had been doing this very thing in and around billings, montana, since mckenzie was born. That little thing behind you is your ticket to what . Anywhere i want to go. I fly it to canada. I fly it to mexico. You know, you get to see things that a lot of times other people are never going to get to see. So when the girls showed up at her Flight School in nearby laurel in august 2013, brimming with confidence, bobby jumped right in. She could see right away that mckenzie was a natural, like when she put her in frosted goggles and asked her to fly by instruments only. I put her in situations where she couldnt see out the window and i would say mckenzie, where is the airport, and she would shock me because she could point. Im like, holy smokes. So when the time came for mckenzie to fly solo, bobbi didnt worry. How did she do . She was great. She was awesome. Its a traditional after the first flight to cut out the back of your tshirt. A friend took the picture. A second solo went just as well. And then, after three weeks of training, one last test flight. The big one, the Cross Country solo. The faa insists it be at least five hours, over 150 nautical miles, with stops in three different airports, followed by three landings at a towered airport. In this case, billings, montana. A challenge, of course. But if mckenzie was confident, and she was, well then, so were her parents. Its not that she just was sent up in an airplane, i mean, she was welltrained. Shes capable. She was ready. And so, august 20th, mckenzly left home early, and her proud mom took a picture. And then at the airport she encountered a little push from fate. A b1 bomber crashed during a routine training mission. The day before, a military plane went down nearby, and the airspace over the vast flatlands to the east was temporarily closed. They could have put off the test. They decided not to. Because the weather was good. The winds arent too strong. All the conditions, you know, you want to make sure theyre good. Yeah, we checked that very closely. So bobbi and mckenzie plotted a modified trip. With stops at little airports over the state line in wyoming. Around 10 00 a. M. , checks complete, mckenzie climbed into the cockpit. I wanted to give her a hug in the worst way. And then i thought, nah, ill give her a hug on the day we finish all of this. Because shes gonna go, oh, syrupy old people. But, i was confident, totally confident. Reporter 30 minutes in, mckenzie texted bobbi from powell, wyoming. First leg, complete. Reporter how did that go . That went well. She was headed to cody. Reporter cody, wyoming. After about 25 mintues, she landed there. Texted bobbi and her mother that all was well. And then a second little push from fate. Though none of them knew it, a huge forest fire had erupted to the west. Smoke billowed towards mckenzies revised flight path. By now, mckenzie was on her way to greybull, wyoming. Tiny airport, tucked behind a ridge, hard to see from the air through the smokey haze, White Knuckle landing. The message you got was that it wasnt as easy this time . Right. She let me know, you know, that she got a little disoriented but things went well, and she was on greybull. And she was going to go ahead and taxi over, tie the plane down, take a little break. Reporter she texted that she ate lunch, refueled and, because one runway was closed for repairs, she used an alternate runway, heading in a different direction. Still the last leg was the easiest. The flight plan called for mckenzie to follow the bighorn river, over the yellowtail dam, make her landings at the billings airport. And then a final short flight back to laurel, where bobbi was waiting. Of course im excited. Now were you know, were really rolling. We dont have far to go here now. Closer to home. Reporter it was midafternoon now. Mckenzies mother hadnt heard from her for awhile and suddenly sensed something off. I had that eerie feeling, you know, the kind that you dont entertain as a parent. Reporter her father, driving to work, felt it too. Something just wasnt right, and i was an hour out of town. I turned around and came back. Reporter bobbi expected to hear from mckenzie about 3 00. 3 00 came and went. She busied herself. Stayed close to the phone. Reporter and that went on, tick, tick, tick . Yes. When did you start to worry . About 3 15 i started thinking she should be there by now. Reporter bobbi called the billings tower. No one had heard from mckenzie. You try to think the best. Shes landed somewhere. Shes safe. Ill hear from her. But nothing. Reporter and now its what, 3 30, 3 40, 3 45 . And about 3 50, i get a phone call from Flight Service station. They said your student is past due. I just want you to know, in five seconds, we will declare her missing. Oh, worst words in the whole world. Mckenzie morgan seems to have disappeared and for everyone who cares about her, its the beginning of a heartstopping odyssey. When we return, as a frantic search gets under way, theres more bad news. I asked her what the route was and my heart just sank. A tablet . Yep. But its not just a tablet, its really a laptop. Its a surface pro 3, with a touchscreen. Well it cant be as fast as my mac. Sure, it can. And it is. But you probably cant plug anything into it. I have a usb mini display port. Plug away. And this is my favorite its the kickstand. So youre saying it does more than my mac . Well technically, you said it. [ male announcer ] hurry in for labor day deals. Get 1030 off major appliances 399 or more at lowes. 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[ male announcer ] theres something bold for everyone to love at mcdonalds. [ male announcer ] theres something bold bobby estaba viviendo la peor 17yearold Mckenzie Morgan, that natural young flyer and her special student, was just gone. You just start thinking, what did i do wrong . Did i miss something . I didnt want to admit this is real. But it was. No time for second guessing. I said, i have my airplane here. Ill be off the ground in 15 minutes. Ill be looking for her. She climbed into her plane, taxied to the gas pump for fuel. The manager hurried over. And he said, we cant give you fuel. We are not allowing anyone to buy fuel right now. We need it for our operation. They were running low, said the manager. They had their own charter and a firefighting operation to fuel. What did you say . I just looked at him square in the eye and i said, i need fuel. And right now id kill you for fuel. My girl is down. I will have fuel. And he got a big look on his face. And he said, give her all the fuel she wants. Just get her her fuel. While they were fueling the plane, bobbi got on the phone and began to organize a search party. Friends, friends of friends. And in minutes, she and her husband were airborne. My husband said, you have to call the parents. Worst day of my life and i did not want to do that. But i wasnt brave enough to call her mother because im a mother. So i did the next best thing. I called her grandfather. The pilot . Yes. And i said, mckenzies missing. And he said, i will be in the airplane in 15 minutes. Mckenzies grandpa drove to where her uncle jared was working. It was around 4 00, 4 30. And my dad pulled up, and said mckenzies missing. Im sorry. And then, finally, they called mckenzies mom, kristy. What was that like, to get that call . The bottom just kind of drops out. You know, you do, you go you have that tendency to go dark for a second. And you think, i am not ready to plan a funeral. They tried to stay positive. After all, they told themselves, by now a posse of private pilots was taking off, making its way up in the air to look for her. One of instructor bobbis group of searchers was Billings Gazette photographer larry mayer, a 30year flight veteran. I asked her what the route was. And, you know, to be honest with you, my heart just sank, because i knew the terrain along the route. And its not very good terrain. Such bad terrain, in fact, that larry was carrying an emergency kit he had packed in case he found her alive. I put together a sleeping bag, some bottles of water, some granola bars, a handheld radio and a large caliber handgun because its grizzly country. Theres mountain lions. Theres, you know, coyotes. Its not where youd want to see yourself, let alone a young girl. Brian kjensmo was in his super cub. Hes a graduate of bobbis Flight School, and he and all the pilots knew what might be waiting out there. I think that every person that was in the air had worst Case Scenarios playing through their minds. 5 00 p. M. , mckenzie had been missing over an hour. Counting bobbi and her husband, and mckenzies grandfather, there were nine small planes in the air scouring the ground. Want to go over to 12275. 75. Over the radio, they agreed to divide the miles and miles of southern montana and northern wyoming into a grid. Everybody was looking everywhere. I mean, there was guys heading north and south, east and west. You know, someone would say, okay, im going to go look in the garvin basin. And someone else would say, okay, im going to go look, you know, along the north rim of the canyon. You know, your heads on a swivel. Youre looking, looking, looking. And just hoping and praying that youre going to find that person as quickly as you can. Most of these pilots had been on searches before. Theyd found plane wrecks, but rarely survivors. The whole time up there in the search, thinking in the back of your mind, thinking that was always a concern. They raced the clock. Sundown was just a few hours away. The stakes went way up if it got dark. Because if she had been injured, and had not been found, you know, it would just really add to the chance that she would end up dying out there. Coming up. Phone records provide the first clue to mckenzies whereabouts but will they help . I was like well that make no sense. And then, one of the search pilots catches sight of something on the ground. My first reaction was oh, my god. When dateline continues. Insurance and forget about it. Y but the more you learn about your coverage, the more gaps you might find. Like how you thought you were covered for this. [boy] check it out,mom [prof. Burke]when youre really only covered for this. Or how you figured you were covered for this. When youre actually paying for this. You might be surprised at whats hiding in your coverage. 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Its a brand new day for data. Introducing the new sprint family share pack. 20gb of high speed data for only 100. Its enough for the whole family. Thats double the data of at t, verizon and tmobile. And now you can save 60 per month over at t and verizon. And when you switch to sprint, well buy out your familys contracts. The sprint family share pack for the whole family. 20gb of high speed data to share on up to 10 lines, unlimited talk and text, all for just 100 mo. Its the best deal in data. Come into a sprint store today. Mckenzie morgans parents were frantic, waiting for word of their missing daughter. What could they do . I was, like, well, lets ping the cell phone. Lets see where she last made her call. They asked the police to pull her phone record, eventually learned she last used her phone at 2 30, half an hour before she was due back in billings. After that, nothing. Then they looked at the gps coordinates of the call. And, oh no. It was four miles, four, five miles south of cody. It was, like, that makes no i couldnt, in my head, fathom. I was, like, well, that makes no sense. Its a 180 degrees the wrong way. Mckenzie was supposed to be here in billings airspace. Instead, the phone pinged south of cody, wyoming. Up in the air, bobbi heard the news and was alarmed. Mckenzie was way too close to the mountains. How could she be here . You know, id watched her flying skills. I was totally confident that there was just no way she would become this confused. Mckenzies uncle and grandfather moved their search to the area the ping came from. Still no sign of mckenzie. Not a single searcher saw a clue, anywhere. Theres not an airplane sitting at fort smith. No, theres not an airplane sitting at greybull. No, she didnt go back to cody. She hasnt arrived back in laurel. Mckenzies plane, like all such planes, was equipped with an emergency beacon, an elt, they call it, which should go off in a crash. But there was no signal from any elt. So what did that make you think . That shes safe. If her elt was going off, theyd pick up the signal and we could find her. So youre thinking, okay, this is a positive. Unless. Unless it hadnt gone off because of something very, very bad. Not having it meant that the airplane had crashed very severely, or was upside down, or possibly burned. Shadows lengthened in the deepening afternoon. The forest fires smoky tail blurred the ground beneath them. And mckenzies family . All they had to hang on to was knowledge that the searchers wouldnt quit. Was there solace in that . No. I mean, it was miserable. Im not going to lie. Up in the air, they kept looking. Suddenly, larry mayer spotted a crashed plane right beneath him. I guess i was just a little startled to be looking for an airplane and then see an airplane sitting there. Brian saw it too. My first reaction of seeing an airplane down below was, oh my god, i found her. But no, he hadnt. The wreckage was from a fatal crash larry covered for the paper years earlier, but it just adds more fuel to the fire that, you know, youre running out number one, youre running out of time. Its getting dark. This is probably what im going to find someplace up here. They fought to focus through the evening shadows. Brian, in his super cub, equipped to fly low and slow, skimmed the trees and rocky peaks. You get into a place called black canyon, which is, you know, vertical cliff walls and black timber down in the bottom of it that you know, its like finding a needle in a haystack in there. By 8 00 p. M. , mckenzie was five hours overdue. The rescue pilots were tired and running out of fuel and daylight. And then the authorities called. We have passed it along to the search and rescue process to the air force at this time. The military would take over, the man said. Would send out a team in the morning. And in 30 minutes bobbi and her friends would be ordered out of the air. Bobbi had one last area to search. Shell canyon in the big horn mountains. Rough, rugged, horrid terrain. Out of all the wrong ways she couldve gone, it wouldve been the worst. She combed shell canyon, back and forth in the growing dark. Nothing. In all that time i kept thinking, why didnt i give her that hug . Why didnt i give her that hug . Id have given anything to give her just one hug. The setting sun in montana and wyoming can be a glorious thing, but that evening, for nine discouraged pilots, it was terrifying. But, of course, they were entirely unaware of the disaster and the drama they didnt see on the ground. Coming up, that ground was here. A forbidding back country, rife with danger. It. Puts that eerie feeling on your body, makes the hair stand up on your back. But this hunter sees something more troubling in the sky. The plane is flying right into a trap . Yep. Clothes are really keeping up with us. Fit, style, performance. Discover the look of quality backed by our satis