Duane Sand Caught In A Fib About Plane Crash
Republican challenger for Rep. Earl Pomeroy’s House seat Duane Sand got in a plane crash a few weeks back. Scary episode, to be sure, but Sand emerged from it without a scratch.
Sand himself blamed an iced up carburetor for the crash, but the Fargo Forum points out that this is something less than the truth:
In an interview with WDAY, Sand said cold and moist weather conditions most likely caused the ice on the plane’s carburetor.
A National Transportation Safety Board report, though, makes no mention of an icing problem.
The report said less than 32 ounces of fuel was aboard the plane following the crash. Inspectors also didn’t notice the smell of fuel at the crash site and found no indications of leaking fuel.
I’m no pilot, but I’m pretty sure having only 32 ounces of fuel in your plane when you crashed means you crashed because you forgot to fuel up.
I guess “iced up carburetor” sounds better than “I forgot to put gas in.”
A good catch by the Forum, though it’d be nice to see the paper exercise this level of scrutiny when it comes to the shady dealings of, say, Senator Kent Conrad.













