University of North Dakota Student Crashes Plane He Was Piloting and Dies

By Paul Walsh

Source Star Tribune (TNS)

Oct. 19, 2021

A University of North Dakota student piloting a small plane crashed into a field south of Grand Forks and died, authorities said.

The crash site was located about 8:15 p.m. Monday southeast of Buxton near NE. 11th Street and 165th Avenue, according to the State Highway Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA).

The FAA said the pilot was the only person aboard the single-engine Piper PA-28. The student's identity has yet to be released.

Emergency responders declared the student dead at the scene, a rural swath about 28 miles from Grand Forks and roughly 6 miles west of the North Dakota border with Minnesota.

Authorities have yet to disclose what led to the plane going down as it was flying from Grand Forks International Airport to Hector International Airport in Fargo, the FAA said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is among the agencies investigating the crash.

In October 2007, a UND plane collided with geese near Little Falls, Minn., and crashed while on a training flight from St. Paul to Grand Forks. Student Adam Ostapenko, 20, of Duluth, and 22-year-old instructor Annette Klosterman, of Seattle, died when the twin-engine Piper Seminole went down in a swampy area.

In December 2006, a UND single-engine Cessna plane crashed soon after leaving Crookston, Minn., and both students aboard were killed.

The University of North Dakota aviation school was first accredited in 1992.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482