Authorities are investigating the weekend crash of Beechcraft Bonanza F33A that killed North Dakota state legislator Liz Conmy and the pilot.
According to the local authorities, the aircraft went down shortly after takeoff from Crystal Airport (KMIC ) in Minneapolis around noon CDT Saturday. Conmy, from Fargo, was a passenger in the aircraft, according to a statement from the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan Party.
The FAA said there were only two people on board the aircraft at the time of the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation.
The name of the pilot has not been released.
According to a filed flight plan, the aircraft, registration number N8032X, was heading to Park Rapids Municipal Airport-Konshok Field (KPKD) in Park Rapids, Minnesota, a distance of 132 nm.
According to historical ADS-B data, the aircraft had made this flight several times. The day of the accident, the aircraft took off from Runway 32 at 11:51 a.m.
A recording of air traffic control (ATC) indicates the pilot made a garbled transmission shortly after takeoff and was cleared to land on any runway, and the landing clearance of another aircraft was canceled.
According to the ADS-B data, the aircraft was at an altitude of 900 feet with a ground speed of 85 knots when it began a turn to the left.
At 11:51:07 the airplane reached an altitude of 950 feet, but the ground speed had decayed to 76 knots. The last ADS-B return, at 11:51:08, was recorded over the accident site. The aircraft was at 950 feet, with a groundspeed of 71 knots.
The aircraft went down in a park less than a quarter mile from the airport boundary in the community of Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis.
According to Matt Rabe, public information officer for the Brooklyn Park Police Department, the aircraft came down in a clearing in the park and caught fire.
“There was a lot of fuel on board but the fire department was able to knock down the fire quickly,” Rabe said.
