Pilot killed in Minneapolis-area crash stopped responding to air traffic minutes before wreck, report says
The pilot killed in a plane crash in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, last month stopped responding to an air traffic controller minutes before the wreck, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Terry Dolan, 63, was flying from Des Moines International Airport (DSM) in Iowa to Anoka County-Blaine Airport (ANE) on March 29. According to the report released Friday, Dolan initially contacted ANE's airport control tower and reported he was going to land there. The air traffic controller gave him landing clearance, and Dolan repeated the clearance to the controller.
Around four minutes after the initial interaction, the controller issued a low-altitude alert to Dolan, with no response. Around three minutes after issuing the alert, the controller attempted to contact Dolan again, with no response.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the crash of the Socata TBM 700 plane happened around 12:20 p.m.
According to the report, footage from a doorbell camera at a nearby home showed the moments leading up to the crash.
"The airplane was in a steep descent with the nose of the airplane pointed down and the airplane rotating about its longitudinal axis," the report said.
Investigators at the crash site didn't find any "mechanical anomalies" with the plane's airframe or engine, officials say.
Dolan flew from Naples Municipal Airport in Florida to DSM before taking off for ANE, the report says. The plane was allegedly refueled "to full fuel capacity" at the Iowa airport.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said Dolan, of Edina, died of blunt-force injuries.
Dolan was vice chair and chief administration officer at Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank. He was named chief administration officer in 2023 and had been with the company for more than 26 years.
