Investigation into Brooklyn Park plane crash continues. Here’s what we know so far.

U.S. Bank executive and pilot Terry Dolan is believed to have died in the Saturday crash.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 31, 2025 at 2:35PM
Members of the Hennepin Sheriff department and the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office searched in the front of the home that was destroyed when a airplane crashed on the roof the house in Brooklyn Park. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Federal investigators on Monday were back on the scene of a weekend plane crash in Brooklyn Park that left one person dead.

What happened?

About 12:20 p.m. Saturday, a Socata TBM 700 — a single-engine turboprop aircraft — with one person on board crashed into a house near the intersection of Kyle Avenue N., Noble Parkway and N. West River Road not far from the Mississippi River. The plane and house caught fire.

The plane had left Des Moines, Iowa, and was due to land at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport between 12:11 and 12:28 p.m. The plane went down about 5 miles from the runway.

Brooklyn Park house in flames after plane crash

Who was involved?

Preliminary information indicates the pilot who died in the incident was Terry Dolan, vice chair and chief administration officer at U.S. Bank. “The medical examiner’s office has not been able to confirm whether he was on board, but we believe he was,” the bank said in a statement.

R.T. Rybak, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation, said in a Facebook post, “if true, it is an enormous loss for US Bank, and also Minneapolis and those of us at the Minneapolis Foundation.” Rybak, a former Minneapolis mayor, called Dolan “a really wonderful person. A big, big loss.”

One person inside the house at the time of the crash was able to get out uninjured. The family that lives in the home has started a GoFundMe fundraiser for donations.

Firefighters work to put out a fire that engulfed a house after it was struck by a small plane in Brooklyn Park. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What happens now?

NTSB investigators plan to recover what remains of the aircraft and take it to a secure facility to perform a detailed examination of the wreckage, said agency spokeswoman Sarah Taylor Sulick.

Officials will gather the following information and records, Sulick said:

• Flight tracking data

• Recordings of air traffic control communications

• Aircraft maintenance records

• Weather forecasts and actual weather and lighting conditions around the time of the accident

• Pilot’s license, ratings and recency of flight experience

• 72-hour background of the pilot to determine if there were any issues that could have affected the pilot’s ability to safely operate the flight

• Witness statements

• Electronic devices that could contain information relevant to the investigation

• Any available surveillance video, including from doorbell cameras

When will we know more about the crash?

A preliminary report containing factual information could be out in about 30 days. A final report detailing probable cause and any contributing factors may take 12 to 24 months, Sulick said.

about the writer

about the writer

Tim Harlow

Reporter

Tim Harlow covers traffic and transportation issues in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and likes to get out of the office, even during rush hour. He also covers the suburbs in northern Hennepin and all of Anoka counties, plus breaking news and weather.

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