Mary Divine, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minnesota

Published: Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 1:00 AM

Link to original story: New Years Day Plane Crash - Forest Lake, Minnesota | January 1, 2022

FOREST LAKE, MINNESOTA - Michael Larsin, 41, of Chisago Lake Township is identified as the lone pilot of the homemade single-seater ultralight airplane that crashed on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2022, according to officials.

It is reported by officials that Larsin took off from Higgins Lake, which is estimated via Google Maps to be around 1.5 miles to the northwest of the crash site. After he took off, Larsin reported to authorities that he was flying east when he reports that his Rotax 447 engine quit working without warning. Larsin then steered his ultralight that had a four-gallon gas tank towards a marshy area with a pond to the east of Interstate 35 and south of Highway 8 where he attempted to land the plane on the frozen pond according to authorities. Larsin then reported that his plane continue to glide once on the icy pond into a stand of cattails at the east end of the pond where the aircraft hit the cattails, flipped, and eventually ended up stopping nose down.

Several calls came into 911 dispatch reporting the aircraft crash from I-35. When authorities arrived on the scene of the crash they were unable to initially locate the pilot as the pilot had left the aircraft after he crashed. Authorities ended up finding tracks in the snow leading away from the aircraft and were able to connect with the pilot. Larsin was reported to not have any injuries from the crash.

This crash remains under investigation.

Photographs of the crashed homemade plane from the east with I-35 with traffic in the background.