Determining that he would not be able to reach the runway at the Granite Falls Airport for an emergency landing, the flight instructor piloting the small jet that crashed a month ago south of Granite Falls told his fellow occupant three times to eject before he did so himself, according to a preliminary report recently filed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The occupant, David Colin Dacus, 46, of San Francisco, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash that occurred shortly before 5:30 p.m. July 21 along Minnesota 23. He was found restrained in the rear ejection seat of the wreckage.

Dacus had a private pilot’s certificate, but was on the flight as a pilot-in-training to be certified for the jet he was interested in purchasing.

Flight instructor Mark Ryan Ruff, 43, of Dallas, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries caused by the ejection and parachute landing, according to the report. Ruff, who has certifications to fly large commercial aircraft, including the Boeing 777 Airbus, also has certification for the 50-year-old, Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-39 high-performance military jet they were flying.

Just over 10 minutes had elapsed between the time the instructor notified air traffic controllers of engine failure and the crash. The jet was 821 feet short of the runway when its tail clipped a power line and crashed into an earthen berm between the highway and a BNSF Railway line.

The engine failure occurred as the two were flying on the third leg of a trip from Gillette, Wyo., to Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., for the Experimental Aircraft Association event.

According to the report, the jet departed the Watertown Regional Airport in eastern South Dakota and climbed to 21,800 feet. Engine power was set at 103% during the continuous climb, yielding 280 knots true airspeed, which equates to 322.4 miles per hour.

The two were wearing helmet oxygen masks and reported smelling an odor followed by smoke intrusion into the cockpit. Four to five seconds later, “the aircraft shook briefly in conjunction with an audible metal-to-metal grinding noise.”

The pilot tried three times to restart the engine, but without success. He turned his attention to locating an airport for a forced landing.

Between sets at any Minnesota State Fair Grandstand concert, a State Fair trivia quiz is projected onto the large screens on either side of the stage. In honor of that tradition, here’s a quiz about the six 1960s acts who performed for 4,626 fans of vintage pop at Monday night’s “Happy Together” show. The answer to each question is either the Turtles, Jay & the Americans, “Little Anthony” Gourdine, Gary Puckett, the Vogues or the Cowsills.

1: Which act’s biggest hit came at the suggestion of TV producer Carl Reiner?

2: Which act has no original members?

3: Which artist was born in Minnesota?

4: Only one of Monday’s performers is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Who is it?

5: The core duo of Steely Dan — Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — toured in the backing band for which act?

6: Only one song performed Monday night was Billboard magazine’s biggest-selling song of the year. Which was it?

Here are the answers, with a bit about how they sounded Monday night.

1: Reiner suggested the Cowsills cover the title song from the groundbreaking countercultural Broadway musical, “Hair,” for a TV special he was producing. It closed their infectiously energetic and nicely harmonized set Monday.

2: Up until shortly before showtime, the answer would have been the Vogues, which is what is called in the business a “ghost band.” And it’s a decent one, as they showed on a fine version of “Five O’Clock World,” buoyed by soaring yodels. But the lone original Turtle, Mark Volman, had to withdraw from the concert for health reasons, so it was true of two groups.

3: Gary Puckett was born in Hibbing, but moved west in childhood. Now 82, his voice remains distinctive, but it’s increasingly frail, making such cringe-worthy fare as “Young Girl” even more so.

4: In 2009, “Little Anthony” Gourdine was inducted into the hall with his vocal group, the Imperials. He was in terrific voice for a man of 84, leaving the impression we were in the presence of musical royalty, especially on the evening’s saddest tune, a deeply affecting “Hurt So Bad.”

5: Fagen and Becker toured with Jay & the Americans in 1971. Jay Reincke is the group’s third “Jay,” and he did a fine job of hitting the falsetto notes of “Cara Mia” and selling the vintage doo-wop of “This Magic Moment.”

6: The Turtles started this whole itinerant oldies fest in 2011, and have brought it back to the Grandstand seven times since. But lead singer Howard Kaylan has retired and turned that role over to Ron Dante, who’s most famous for singing lead on the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar,” the most popular song of 1969. He sang it Monday, with Volman’s harmonies handled by the leader of the exceptional quartet that backed all of the acts, guitarist Godfrey Townsend, concluding the set with the blissful pop tune that gave the tour its name.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

TORONTO — Max Scherzer pitched six innings and won his third straight start, Alejandro Kirk and Andrés Giménez homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 10-4 on Monday night.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a two-run single as the AL East-leading Blue Jays won for the 30th time in 39 home games.

Scherzer (5-2) allowed four runs and four hits, including two home runs. He struck out five and walked one. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 10-2 in 19 career starts against the Twins.

Minnesota’s Matt Wallner homered twice off Scherzer, his 18th and 19th, but the Twins lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Twins starter Joe Ryan gave up four runs and four hits in a shaky first inning. Bo Bichette hit an RBI single and a second run scored on Daulton Varsho’s sacrifice fly before Kirk hit a two-run homer, his 11th.

Giménez extended the lead with a 422-foot drive on Ryan’s first pitch of the second. The homer was Giménez’s sixth.

Ryan (12-7) matched a season high by allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings. He lost consecutive starts for the first time this season.

Wallner hit a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run drive in the sixth. It was his first mult-ihomer game of the season and the second of his career.

Guerrero started at designated hitter, his first start since leaving an Aug. 18 game at Pittsburgh because of a sore left hamstring. Guerrero popped out as a pinch hitter in Sunday’s loss at Miami.

Key moment

Kirk’s two-out, first-pitch homer in the first capped a four-run inning.

Key stat

The Blue Jays are 57-3 when they score five or more runs.

Up next

Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (11-7, 4.18 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday against Twins RHP Bailey Ober (4-7, 5.05).

Toronto Blue Jays’ Nathan Lukes runs in to score on a single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, left, waits for a throw during sixth-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

As the Vikings prepared to finalize their roster, they flipped young cornerback Mekhi Blackmon to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Originally a third-round pick out of USC in 2023, Blackmon looked like a promising prospect as a rookie. He then suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament last year during training camp and hasn’t looked the same since.

Though he was able to return to the Vikings ahead of training camp this summer, Blackmon struggled to carve out a niche for himself. He was immediately beat out by cornerback Jeff Okudah in a position battle and slowly but surely found himself falling down the depth chart.

The fresh start might be good for Blackmon.

Meanwhile, the Vikings continue to accumulate a war chest of picks in the middle rounds, which could help them in their reported pursuit of veteran receiver Adam Thielen. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see the Vikings pursue a veteran cornerback at some point soon after parting ways with Blackmon.

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