Senator Doug Larsen, a North Dakota state representative, died in a plane crash in Utah with his wife and two children.
Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed Monday in an email that Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue sent to fellow senators and was obtained by The Associated Press.
The plane crashed Sunday evening shortly after takeoff from Canyonlands Airfield, about 15 miles north of Moab, according to a statement from the Grand County Sheriff’s Department posted on Facebook. The sheriff’s office said all four people on board the plane died.
“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy and their two young children died last night in a plane crash in Utah,” Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped for gas in Utah.
“I don’t know where the grieving of such a tragedy begins, but I believe it begins with prayers for Senator Larsen’s grandparents, surviving stepson, and Doug and Amy’s extended family,” wrote Hogue. “Keep your family close today.”
The crash of the single-engine Piper plane is under investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media site formerly called Twitter.
A telephone message left with sheriff’s officials seeking additional information was not immediately returned Monday.
Larsen was a Republican first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 2020. His district encompasses Mandan, the neighboring city of Bismarck to the west across the Missouri River. Larsen chaired a Senate committee dealing with business and industrial legislation.
He was also a lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard. He and his wife, Amy, owned a business.
Moab is a tourism-oriented community of approximately 5,300 residents located near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
US military searches for missing plane
The US military has made an unusual appeal to the people of South Carolina for help in locating a costly stealth plane that disappeared last Sunday (September 17) in the southern state.
The pilot of an F-35 fighter jet was forced to eject from the plane on Sunday afternoon in what authorities called an “incident.” Although the pilot survived, the plane could not be located.
This led the Charleston Air Force Base, located in the southern city of that state, to seek cooperation from residents.
“If you have any information that could help our rescue teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center,” the military installation wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Base officials said they were conducting search operations in coordination with federal aviation regulators near two lakes north of Charleston.
Each of the F-35 planes, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, costs around $80 million.
