{"id":210832,"date":"2026-04-27T04:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T04:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/210832\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T04:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T04:19:14","slug":"friends-work-colleagues-remembering-north-dakota-lawmaker-and-partner-killed-in-brooklyn-park-plane-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/210832\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends, work colleagues remembering North Dakota lawmaker and partner killed in Brooklyn Park plane crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday morning, residents in Brooklyn Park were startled when an airplane crashed into a park.<\/p>\n

A Beechcraft single-engine plane was seen crashing into the ground and then bursting into flames in seconds.<\/p>\n

Daren Wichman knew something was very wrong when he heard what he thought was a plane in distress.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a fire that there\u2019s no way you\u2019re going to save anybody,\u201d recalled Wichman, who lives nearby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wichman says he heard what sounded like the aircraft\u2019s engine cutting in and out \u2014 and ran over to Southbrook Park to find the downed plane in flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, heard a crunching noise, came around the house, looked up and saw a big orange ball, and then a big mushroom black cloud,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

The FAA says the plane, a Beechcraft F33A, went down around 11:51 Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Family members confirm that North Dakota State Representative Liz Conmy and her partner, Dr. Joseph Cass, a retired Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon, who was piloting the plane, were killed. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Conmy, a mother of four, with ties to Minnesota State University and the University of St. Thomas, was known for her dedication to environmental and education issues.<\/p>\n

A neighbor named Steve, who did not want his last name made public, says the crash was devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the whole house shake and kind of like an impact noise,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI rushed over while I was calling 911, and I saw the plane engulfed, could barely make out the tailfin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all just devastated,\u201d Representative Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. \u201cLiz Conmy was such a warm spirit. She had this joy around her that was infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Conmy\u2019s colleagues in the North Dakota legislature, there\u2019s been a mixture of disbelief and sadness about two lives cut short.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was shocking, I couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d said Representative Austin Foss, D-Fargo. \u201cWe got the call from our minority leader, and truthfully, I didn\u2019t have words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019re kind of shocked that there was this accident, and trying to figure out how to accommodate the grief of losing a friend,\u201d noted Senator Tim Mathern, D-Fargo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Friends say the couple had a passion for flying and traveled together all over the country \u2014 including in Minnesota, where Cass had a lake house.<\/p>\n

Conmy\u2019s political colleagues say she was preparing to run for a second term in the North Dakota House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Her passions were environmental and educational issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiz was always just a bright smile in the room,\u201d recalled Jarrod Schoenecker, who was a student of Conmy, taking public relations courses with her in 2005 and 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if you had a terrible day, she was a great breath of fresh air,\u201d he says. \u201cI guess you could say she never came in with any negativity. Always very vibrant, bubbly, happy, willing to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wreckage from the crash was moved Sunday afternoon, as the FAA and the NTSB launch their investigation. An NTSB spokesperson says an investigator was at the scene Sunday to document the site and examine the plane.<\/p>\n

Authorities say the aircraft had taken off from Crystal Airport just moments before.<\/p>\n

The agency says the Beechcraft is being transported to a secure facility for further evaluation.<\/p>\n

A preliminary report is expected in about thirty days.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those who know Conmy and Cass say the loss is devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a light, she was a shining light,\u201d Foss says. \u201cShe was a ball of energy; she was just really fun; and yeah, she had a passion about her work, and she had a passion for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Brooklyn Park<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Plane Crash<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Richard Reeve<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday morning, residents in Brooklyn Park were startled when an airplane crashed into a park. A Beechcraft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,5796,9,24,63,16400,83354],"class_list":{"0":"post-210832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-brooklyn-park","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-plane-crash","16":"tag-richard-reeve"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}