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North Dakota lawmaker killed in Utah plane crash had recently earned commercial pilot's license
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This photo provided by Samantha Rose Photography LLC shows North Dakota Sen. Doug Larsen, second from left, with his wife, Amy, and their two sons, Christian and Everett, on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2023, at Papago Park in Phoenix, Ariz. All four of them died the following day, Sunday, Sept. 30, in a plane crash near Moab, Utah. - photo by Samantha Brammer/Samantha Rose Photography LLC via AP
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota lawmaker who had recently received his commercial pilot’s license was flying his own small plane home from a family celebration in Arizona when it crashed in Utah, killing him, his wife and their two young sons, family members said Tuesday. It was the first time state Sen. Doug Larsen of Mandan, and his family had flown his single-engine Piper Cherokee to visit his sister in Scottsdale, Arizona. Peggy Steimel said he made the trip so he could be part of her sendoff before she deployed for about a year overseas with the Arizona National Guard.