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Libertarian candidate for Iowa’s US Senate seat dies in plane crash

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October 14th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The pilot who died in a plane crash near Dubuque late last night was the Libertarian candidate for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat. The family of Douglas Butzier (BUTZ-ear) has confirmed Butzier was piloting the plane that crashed near the Dubuque Regional Airport at about 11 p.m. Monday. No one else was in the plane.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the single-engine plane took off from the Ankeny Regional Airport at about 10 p.m. and crashed at 11 p.m. about a mile north of the runway in Dubuque. Butzier, who was an E-R doctor, was born in Mount Pleasant and grew up in Cedar Falls.

Butzier, who was 59 years old, has been working at Dubuque Mercy Hospital for the past 17 years.