Posted on 06/19/2025 7:56:12 AM PDT by DFG
The pilot of a small private jet that crash landed in southern California last month and killed everyone on board, including a famous drummer, clipped a power line during landing while flying too low a preliminary report has revealed.
The Cessna 550 Citation plummeted into San Diego's Murphy Canyon neighborhood in the early hours of May 22 as it made its final approach for Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.
Daniel Williams, a former drummer for metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada, and famed music producer Dave Shapiro - who is believed to have been the pilot - were among the six people killed in the crash.
Several factors contributed to the fatal crash, including the poor weather conditions that Shapiro was navigating during the descent, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report released Wednesday.
The airport's weather data system and a runway lighting system designed to guide pilots as they approach the runway were also inoperable, the NTSB report reviewed by the Daily Mail revealed.
Shapiro was flying below the minimum crossing altitude as he approached the airport. Roughly two miles away from the airport, he struck power transmission lines about 95 feet above the ground, slicing the tail of his plane and damaging the stabilizers.
The crash killed everyone aboard the jet and left eight people on the ground with minor injuries. The crash damaged one home and sent debris and jet fuel down the street, igniting 20 vehicles in flames, the report said.
The fatal plane crash comes amid a spate of aviation accidents including just last week when an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed just minutes after take-off, killing all but one of 242 people on board.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I think you are making all that up!
Music producer pilot.
That may be the case as the fog rolls in the early hours . The analysis I saw had El Cajon with good visibility for the airport. Be that as it may there were plenty of alternates in the area that were suitable. The pilot fancied himself a hot shot and got bit by bad choices.
Re: 49 - a suggestion to not post to that FReeper. You can spend it in much more productive ways.
If you insist on violating the approach procedures, what difference does it make to have the tower personnel there? No radar, just eyes. “
Back in the day I had to leave the club plane in Mobile as New Orleans Lakefront was fogged in and I was not instrument rated.
I rented a car and picked up the club duty pilot. He was an ex-Navy fighter pilot.
A plane ahead of us flew over the airport and headed for an alternate.
We landed and while coasting the tower called out our sign and asked “Where are you?”
“That may be the case as the fog rolls in the early hours .”
This happened early hours. 3:45 AM.
El Cajon (Gillespie Field)(KSEE) may have had better WX...but 8 NM West towards the coast (marine layer) at Montgomery Field where he was trying to land it was socked in with fog down to 250 feet AGL.
https://www.flyingmag.com/ntsb-san-diego-crash-aircraft-struck-power-lines/
ATC observes and recommends, pilots fly.
“ATC observes and recommends, pilots fly.”
ATC gives clearances and instructions that pilots are required to follow. He was IFR.
In northern New England there is no evening night air traffic control. All the airports are handled out of Boston.
Perhaps Bangor might have a guy on.
Safety of flight is the responsibility of the pilot in command, ATC doesn’t fly anything. And depending on the circumstances (not apparently in this case) emergency Medevac for instance to hell with ATC especially San Diego approach control.
“In northern New England there is no evening night air traffic control. All the airports are handled out of Boston.”
That IS air traffic control.
ATC gives clearances and instructions that pilots are required to follow. He was IFR.
The day the music died again?
He was on an ILS, but the airport was not under control of the tower which was closed. He had no ATC beyond the center that was clearing him to the vicinity of that airport.
But there was nobody to hand him off to at that airport. You can use an ILS at an airport with a closed tower. But it’s all on him.
And that weird stunt he pulled of ducking below the clouds below the ILS to see where he was... that was a massive screwup.
“He was on an ILS”
No, he was on a RNAV approach.
Yes but none in the local towers.
Not if it compromises safety of flight. Or in the case of the military, completion of the mission.
Well that being the case, I guess his only option was to pile it in.
Thanks for coming around.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.