The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its final report on the death of a North Dakota state senator who died in a plane crash in Moab, Utah, with his family on Oct. 1, 2023.
The report suggested that Rep. Doug Larsen, who formerly represented District 34 as a Republican, who was piloting the plane, experienced spatial disorientation while departing at 8:23 p.m. from Utah’s Canyonlands Regional Airport into an area with low ambient visual light.
“It is likely that the pilot neither had adequate visual references after takeoff nor monitored the airplane’s flight instruments appropriately to detect the airplane’s descent during the continuous 180° crosswind to downwind turn,” the report said.
The crash killed Larsen, his wife, Amy, and their two young sons when they were on their way home from visiting family in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Larsens owned hotels in Bismarck as well as a home-building company.
“I was shocked at the time of his passing,” North Dakota Republican Party member Jim Silrum told NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media.
The report went on to say that investigators spoke to a local operator who said their company pilots do not usually depart on the runway in the dark the way that Larsen did due to the lack of visual references.
Federal aviation investigators also wrote in the report that a witness statement, confirmed by video evidence, indicated that Larsen turned off the airplane landing light immediately after takeoff.
After losing his visual reference to the horizon, investigators found that Larsen flew into rocky terrain without his runway lights, even though they were fully functional.
“The pilot did not use the functional pilot-controlled runway lights, thus eliminating this light source as a possible visual aid during the departure,” the report stated.
NTD learned that Larsen had received aircraft instrument training, had some 45 hours of night flying under his belt, and had a certificate that permitted him to fly in low visibility conditions only using flight instruments.
The Office of the Medical Examiner and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services determined that the cause of death was blunt force injuries, and a toxicology report found no drugs or alcohol in Larsen’s body.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airplane Flying Handbook advises pilots flying at night that it is difficult to note whether their aircraft is getting closer to or further from the surface.
The handbook also suggests checking frequently during takeoff for correct airspeed, altitude, and heading before turning.
The witness told federal aviation investigators that Larsen’s airplane began a continuous 180° right turn that was steep and descending.
“Impact marks indicated that the pilot likely began a climb or held a nose-up attitude before the airplane’s landing gear struck a hill,” the report stated. “The airplane continued beyond this first hill for about 540 ft, where it then descended in a nose-low attitude and impacted a second hill. The impacts fatally injured the occupants and substantially damaged the airplane.”
Larsen’s political career started when he was elected to the North Dakota Senate in 2020. At that time, he chaired a panel on industry and business legislation. He was also a member of the North Dakota Army National Guard for 29 years.
Larsen’s successor for the Senate seat in District 34 was Justin Gerhardt, who took office on Oct. 19, 2023.
“Senator Larsen was replaced through an appointment process provided under North Dakota law for filling vacancies,” North Dakota Legislative Council director John Bjornson told NTD. “We have no other comments with respect to this tragic accident.”
