A North Dakota state senator took off from a remote Utah airport last month with his wife and two young sons in the plane without the runway lights on a dark night with no moonlight and crashed just a minute later killing everyone aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that the runway lights that are controlled by the pilot remained dark. The investigators also didn’t find any evidence of a mechanical failure before the Oct. 1 plane crash that killed State Sen. Doug Larsen, his wife Amy and sons Christian and Everett.
The plane climbed 200 feet (61 meters) into the air and turned 180 degrees steeply to the right to fly back past the airport, the report said, without noting whether this was the correct path to head to North Dakota.
After that, the plane started to descend. Investigators found that it gouged a hilltop before crashing about 455 feet (139 meters) later. The plane finally stopped on a second hill about 65 feet (20 meters) from the second impact point and amid the debris of the landing gear and wheel covers.
Larsen had experience flying Black Hawk helicopters in the national guard and he had recently earned his commercial pilot’s license.
AP
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