Senate Candidate Killed in Plane Crash

A U.S. Senate candidate, who grew up in Cedar Falls, is being identified as the victim of a fatal plane crash in Northeast Iowa.

The accident happened at about 10 p.m. Monday (October 13, 2014), just north of the Dubuque Regional Airport. A plane piloted by Dr. Doug Butzier had taken off an hour earlier at the Ankeny Regional airport. He was apparently making a second approach to the runway when the plane went down.

The single engine plane crashed near Key West, in rural Dubuque County. Butzier, the only person on board, was killed.

According to sources, Butzier was an emergency room doctor at Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque. He was running for U.S. Senate in Iowa on the Libertarian ticket.

Born in Mount Pleasant, Butzier was raised in Cedar Falls. He graduated from Northern University High School in 1973, then served in the U.S. Army Reserves for eight years. Butzier settled in Dubuque about 17 years ago, after working in Arizona and Minnesota.

It was not known if weather was a factor in the accident. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the crash.