State Senator Didn’t Use Runway Lights Before Fatal Plane Crash, U.S. Says
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on March 14, 2025
A 2023 plane crash that killed a state senator from North Dakota, his wife and two of their children was most likely caused when the senator — who was piloting the plane — became disoriented while taking off at night without runway lights, federal aviation investigators said on Thursday.
The senator, Doug Larsen, 47, a Republican, was flying the single-engine plane on Oct. 1, 2023, when it crashed just after taking off from the Canyonlands Regional Airport, over 200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, the authorities said at the time.
In a report released on Thursday, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said that it appeared that Mr. Larsen had not used the pilot-controlled runway lights and had turned off the airplane’s landing light immediately after takeoff. Unable to see in the darkness, Mr. Larsen most likely lost his bearings, investigators said. Moments later, the small plane struck a hill and then crashed into another hill, they said, killing all four people on board.
The crash took place just before 8:30 p.m. near the desert recreation town of Moab, Utah, where Mr. Larsen had stopped to refuel the plane after visiting family members in Scottsdale, Ariz. The plane took off in “dark nighttime conditions” and was flown into an area with “little ambient light,” investigators said. At the time of the takeoff, the full moon had not yet risen completely above the horizon, they said.
A witness and video evidence confirmed that Mr. Larsen had used neither the pilot-controlled runway lights nor the airplane’s landing light, which is sometimes used at night during takeoff, according to the report. A local operator told investigators that its pilots did not usually use the runway used by Mr. Larsen because it is too dark.
Shortly after takeoff, the plane took what the witness described as a steep and descending 180-degree right turn, investigators said. The plane then struck a hill, continued for about 540 feet and struck a second hill, investigators said.
