Empty skies and a terrible fear. Had her plane gone down in some of the most dangerous ter ranchts not where want to see yourself let alone a young girl. A search, a race against time. If it got dark it would add to the chances she would understand 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 shock. Ite lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison with, in to the wild. Reporter there are places in the American West that quite rightly inspire fear along with awe. Like the wild haunts of grizz grizzlies in the mountains. Likely overconsonant heart of a precocious teenage girl. Like the terrified love of a parent. Your girl is gone. We have no control. Youre in gods hands, so to speak. It was miserable. Reporter but her . Nobody thought it would happen to Mckenzie Morgan. Youre just quiet. Theres not a thing that we can do. Help reporter to mckenzie the parents she was always exceptional. Their super girl. A kid that started reading at 2, 2 1 2, speaking in sentences at a year and a half. Reporter she excelled in school, threw a wicked curveball and a sixth sense for the outdoors, developed elk hunting with her dad. Shes a great kid. Always wanted to go often are and do the next thing . The next thing. Doing as good as you can. Reporter more than anything, mckenzie wanted to fly. Frankly, that desire came packaged in her genes. Greatgrandfather, grandfather, uncles, like jared hansen, all pilots. Mckenzie and grandpa got together. We talked and said that if she wants to do it lets help her out. Reporter hur parents were fine with it, too. A lot of people would look at this and say, god, you really feel good about letting your daughter go off and fly an airplane at her age . I see kids they sit there and communicate and text. Our daughter chose to go up and fly in an airplane. I was more scared of her driving than flying. Reporter when mckenzie was 17, her uncle loaned her an cessna and grandfather lessons. They had been doing this very thing in and around bill gz, montana, since she was born. That is your ticket to what . Anywhere i want to go. I fly it through canada. I fly it to mexico. You know, you get to see things that a lot of times, that other people anever going to get to see. Reporter so when the girl showed up in Flight School in nearby laurel in august 2013 brimming with confidence, bobbi jurped right in. She could see right away mckenzie was a natural. Like when she put her in frosted goggles and asked to fly by instruments only. I put her in situation where is she couldnt see out the window and id say, mckenzie, wheres the airport . And shed shock me. Because she could point. Holy smokes. Reporter so when the time came for mckenzie to fly solo, bobbi didnt worry. How did she do in that first solo flight . She did great. She was awesome. Reporter its a tradition 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 crosscountry solo. The faa insists it be at least five hours over 150 nautical miles with stops in three it different airports, followed by three landings at another airport. In this case, billings, montana. A challenge, of course, but if mckenzie was comfort and she was, then so were her parents. Not like she was just sent up in an airplane. Well trained. Shes capable. She was ready. Reporter so august 20th, mckenzie left home early and her proud mom took a picture, and then at the airport, she encountered a little push from fate. The b1 bomber crashed during a routine Training Mission regard day before a military plane went down near by and the air space over the vast lands to the east was temporarily closed. Could have put off the test but decided not to. Because the weather was good. The winds arent too strong. All of the conditions, you know, you want to make sure there good. Yeah. We checked that very closely. Reporter 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 going to go, oh, syrupy old people. But i was confident. Totally confident. Reporter 30 minutes in, mckenzie texted bobbi, first leg, complete, from wyoming. How that go . That went well. She was headed to cody. Reporter cody, wyoming. After about 25 minutes, land landed there, texting bobbi and her mother, all is well. Then a second little push from fate, though none knew it, a huge forest fire erupted to the west. Smoke billowed towards mckenzies revised flight path. By now, mckenzie was on her way to graybold, wyoming. Tiny airport turked behind a ridge, hard to see from the air, through the smoky haze. Whiteknuckle landing. The message you got, it wasnt as easy this time . Right. She let me know she got a little disoriented, things went well, there and able to go ahead and taxi over, tie the plane down. Take a little break. Reporter she texted she ate lunch, refuelled and because one runway was closed for repairs, she used an alternate runway, heading in a different direction. Still, the last reg wleg was th easie easiest. Following Big Horn River over the yellow tail dam, make landings at the billings around and a final flight back to where bobbi was waiting. Of course, im excited. Were really rolling. Dont have far to go here now. Closer to home. Reporter it was midafternoon now. Mckenzies mother hadnt heard from her for a while. And suddenly sensed something odd. I had that eerie feeling. The kind you dont entertain as a parent. Reporter her father driving to work tells it, too. Something just wasnt right. An hour out of town i turned around, came back. Reporter bobbi expected to hear from mckethzy about 3 00. 3 00 came and went. She busied herself. Staid close to the phone and that went on, tick, tick, tick. Yes. Reporter 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 mckengzy. You try to think the best. Shes landed somewhere. Shes safe. Ill hear from you, but nothing. Reporter and thats, what . 3 30 . 3 40 . 3 45 . And about 3 50, i get a phone call. From Flight Service station. They said your student has passed through. I just want you to know. It was five seconds, we will declare her missing. Ah. Worst words in the whole world. Mckenzie forgen seems to have disappeared. For everyone who cares about her, the beginning of a heartstopping odyssey. When we return, as a frantic search gets underway, more bad news. I asked what the route was, and my heart just hey john, check it out. Whoa yeah, i was testing to see if we really can turn any device in your house into a tv. And the tablet worked just fine. But i wanted to see if the phone would work as well. So i shrunk sharon. Every channel is live just like on tv. But its my phone. Its genius. Shh im watching tv. Tiny sharon is mean. Im right here. Watch any channel live on any device around your home. Download the xfinity tv app today. Bobbi powers was living a Flight Instructors worst nightmare. 17yearold Mckenzie Morgan, a natural young flier and her special student was just gone. To start thinking what did i do wrong . Did i miss something . I didnt want to admit, this is real. Reporter but it was. No time for second guessing. I said, is my airplane here . Ill be off the ground in 15 minutes. Ill be looking for her. Reporter 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 operations. Reporter they were running low, said the manager. They had their own charter, and Fire Fighting operation to fuel. What did you say . I looked 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. Reporter file 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 kim. 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. Reporter the pilot . Yes. And i said, mckenzies missing. And he said, i will be in the airplane in 15 minutes. Reporter mckenzies grandpa drove to where her uncle jared was working. Around 4 00, 4 30. My dad pulled up, and said mckenzies missing. Sorry. Reporter and then finally, they called mckenzies mom, kristy. What was that like, to get that call . The bottom 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. Reporter they tried to stay positive. After all, they told themselves, by now a posse of pilots was taking awe making its way up in the air to look for her. One of the searchers, a photography larry mayer a 30year flight veteran. I asked her what the route was. To be hon oeft, my heart sank. I newspaper the terrain along the route and its not very good terrain. Reporter such bad terrain, in fact, that larry was carrying an emergency kit he packed in case he found her alive. I put together a sleeping bag, some bottles of water. Granola bars, handheld radio and large caliber handgun, because its grizzly country. Theres mountain lions, coyotes. Its not where youd want to see yourself let alone a young girl. Reporter brian was in his super cub. A graduate of bobbis Flight School and he and all the pilots knew what might be waiting out there. I think that every person in the air had worstcase scenarios playing through their minds. Reporter mckenzie missing over an hour. There were nine small planes in the air scouring the ground. Over to 12275. Reporter over the radio 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. Someone would say okay im looking in the garvin basin. Someone else, okay, im going to go look, you know, along the north rim of the canyon. You know, your heads on a swivel, looking, looking, looking. Hoping and praying youre going to find that person as quickly as you can. Reporter most of these pilots have been on searches before. Theyd found plane wrecks, but rarely survivors. R. The whole time up there in the search, thinking, in the back of your mind, thinking that it was always a concern. Reporter they raced the clock. Sundown 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, that would just really add to that 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 makes no sense. Huhuh. Reporter and then, one of the search pilots catches sight of something on the ground. My first reaction was, oh, my god. I love this new sirachi burger. Its siracha. Sluracha . No. Sirahchah. Siriracha. No. Watch how i say it. Sirahcha. Thats not helping. Bam thats jacks new spicy Sriracha Burger comin in all hot and melty with jalapenos and bacon but the best part . Its not just sriracha sauce, its creamy srirah. Slurrah cha. Whatever its called, its awesome sauce. Mckenzie morgans parents were frantic, waiting for word of their mirrorsing daughter. What could they do . I was like, well, just ping the cell phone, see where she last made her call. Reporter they asked police to pull her phone record and eventually learned she last used her phone at 2 30. Half an hour before due back in billings. After that, nothing. Then looked at the gps coordinates of the call and, oh, no. If was four miles, four, five miles south of cody. That makes no i couldnt in my head fathom. I was like, well, that makes no sense. Huhuh. Its 180 degrees the wrong way. Uhhuh. Reporter 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 . Ive watched her flying skills. I was totally confident that there was just no way she would become this confused. Reporter mckenzies uncle and grandfather moved their search to the area the ping came from. Still, no sign of mckenzie. 201. 1275. Reporter flotnot a single searcher saw a clue anywhere. Theres not an airplane at fort smith, no, not at greybull. No, she didnt go back to cody. She hasnt arrived back in laurel. Reporter mckengzys plane like all such planes was equipped with an emergency beacon. 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 could go off theyd pick of the signal and wed go find her. Were thinking, this is a positive thing. Reporter 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. Reporter shadows lengthen in the deepening afternoon. The forest fire 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. It was miserable. Im not going to lie. Reporter up in the air, they kept looking. Suddenly, larry mayer spot add crashed plane right beneath him i. Was 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. Reporter 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 youre running out of number one, running out of time. Its getting dark. This is probably what im going to find some place up here. Reporter they fought to focus through the evening shadows. Brian and his super cub equipped to fly low and slow skimmed the trees and rocky beach. 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. Reporter by 8 00 p. M. , mckenzie was five hours over due. The rescue pilots were tired and running out of fuel and daylight. And then the authorities call. We have along the search and rescue process to the air force at this time. Reporter the military would take over. The man said, wed 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 mountain. Rough, rugged, horrid terrain. Out of all the wrong ways she could have gone, it would have been the worst. Reporter she combed shell canyon back and forth in the growing dark. Nothing. And all that time i kept thinking, why didnt i give her that hug . Why dine give her that hug . Id have given anything just to give her one hug. Reporter the setting sun in montana and i woeming c inwyomi glorious thing. That evening for nine discouraged pilots it was terrifying. 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 forbidden back country, ripe with danger. Sat here, a feeling in your body makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Reporter but this hunter seeing something even more troubling in the sky. So the plane is flying right into a trap . Yep. Reporter nine small planes about to give up their search for a missing teenage pilot, hope dying with the set sun. We all looked until the last light. You know, the absolute last light. Reporter so as the minutes tick by, the passage of time changes somehow. Doesnt it . Yes. Yeah. It felt like days. Reporter but here, in the outskirts of a little place calmed douglas, wyoming, an outdoorsman named Josh Alexander was about to get roped into the same story. If you were given your choice of some way to spend two weeks, do whatever you want, what would it be . In the mountains hunting somewhere. Thats what i live for. Reporter joshs friend and colleague nathan coyle feels just the same way. I mean, theres places, you can go and not see people for days. Reporter kind of sweet spots for you . Yeah. Very relaxing. Very calm. Quiet. Reporter in august of 2013, josh and nate planned to spend a few days in one of those sweet spots. A place most of us will never see. The absorcas in western wyoming, some of the most remote mountains in the country. The purpose of the trip, scout for big horned sheep. Not easy. They live on jagged perches 10,000 feet up and more. They are like ghosts. There for a fleeting moment, then gone again. Inhospitable country. Its steep, its rugged. Its all rug. Reporter base camp was 9,000 feet up in an abandoned mining town called kirwin. August 19th, they saw five grizzly bears. Makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. You know . Reporter he brought his horses, duke and dirty devil or double d, the stubborn one. The next day was august 20th. The very same day Mckenzie Morgan set off from laurel, montana, on her first solo Cross Country flight. Nate and josh were picking their way up a rocky pathway to greybull pass, elevation 1,300. Double d didnt like it, tried to go home. Slipped and tumbled down the rocky slope, dragging josh with him. I couldnt get kicked out of the stirrups fast enough. He went over, smashed my ankle and tore up his front leg also. Reporter the horse cut its leg. Josh sprained his ankle. But give up . Go home . No. Way too tough for that. Even though youre hurting like crazy, your horse is injured. Why . Had to see whats on the other side. Lft lfrt [ laughter ] didnt ride all that way for nothing. Reporter so they pushed on. About 300 yards to the top, miles and miles of vast isolation around them, in an average year, said park rangers only one or two human beings ever set foot up here. Very windy. When we got on the fop of thtop pass, probably 35, 40 mileanhour wind. Reporter just howling around you . Screaming. Reporter but, oh, the sights. A herd of elk. 200 of them. I was standing up there looking through my binoculars watching them milk on the bottom and looked at them maybe two minutes. Reporter the sound of an airplane broke his concentration. It was a little plane. A cessna 172. Just kept getting louder and louder and louder. First thing you thought was, wh