North Dakota state senator, his wife and 2 young kids are killed in plane crash
BISMARCK, N.D. — A state senator from North Dakota, his wife and their two young children died when the small plane they were traveling in crashed soon after a refueling stop in Utah, a Senate leader said Monday.
The plane crashed Sunday evening shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Regional Airport about 15 miles north of the desert recreation town of Moab, according to a Grand County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook. The Sheriff’s Department said that the senator, Doug Larsen, was the pilot and that all four people on board the plane were killed.
“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,†North Dakota Senate Majority Leader David Hogue wrote in an email Monday to his fellow senators. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.
“I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandparents, surviving stepchild of Senator Larsen, and extended family of Doug and Amy,†Hogue wrote. “Hold your family close today.â€
A bouquet of roses was placed on Larsen’s desk in the Senate chamber, just above the nameplate that reads: “D. Larsen — District 34.â€
The crash of the single-engine Piper plane was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media website formerly called Twitter.
A flight instructor and a student aboard a small aircraft were seriously injured when the plane crashed into a soccer field Monday afternoon in San Pedro, authorities said.
Officials didn’t release the plane’s origin or final destination. After landing at Canyonlands airport, the travelers took a car into Moab — a small tourism-centered community near Arches and Canyonlands national parks — before taking off again in the refueled plane, NTSB spokesman Fabian Salazar said at a news conference at the airport.
The agency will have a preliminary report on the crash within a couple of weeks, followed by a final report in 12 to 18 months, Salazar said.
Larsen was a Republican first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 2020. He chaired a Senate panel that handled industry and business legislation. He and his wife were business owners.
Larsen served 29 years in the North Dakota Army National Guard. He mobilized twice, to Iraq in 2009-10 and to Washington in 2013-14, according to Gov. Doug Burgum’s office. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Service Star and Army Aviator Badge, among other honors.
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Burgum said in a statement that Larsen “was a father, husband, coach, entrepreneur, businessman, state senator and lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard who committed himself fully to each of those roles with an unwavering sense of honor and duty. As a legislator, he was a tenacious advocate for individual rights and the freedoms he defended through his military service.â€
Republican state Sen. Scott Meyer, who sat behind Larsen in the Senate, remembered him for his dry sense of humor, candor on issues and passion for flying. He recalled a Saturday afternoon in the Senate chamber when Larsen talked with fellow senators for roughly an hour about flying planes and working on his private pilot’s license.
“He was passionate about flying. He really was,†Meyer said.
District Republicans will appoint a successor to fill out the remainder of Larsen’s term through November 2024. His Senate seat is on the ballot next year. Republicans control North Dakota’s Legislature with supermajorities in the House and Senate.
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