SAN DIEGO — The runway lights were out, the weather alert system was down, and there was heavy fog at a San Diego airport when a pilot who had flown across the country decided to land but came up short and crashed into a neighborhood, likely killing all six people on board, investigators said Friday.
Investigator Dan Baker of the National Transportation Safety Board said officials will spend the next year determining what caused the Cessna 550 Citation to crash just before 4 a.m. Thursday. The jet was carrying a music executive and five other people. No one was killed in the neighborhood of US Navy housing, but eight people were treated for smoke inhalation and non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the fiery collision.
The pilot acknowledged that the weather conditions for landing at the small airport were unfavorable and considered diverting to another airport while discussing visibility with an air traffic controller at a regional Federal Aviation Administration control tower, according to audio of the conversation posted by LiveATC.net.
The FAA had posted an official notice to pilots that the lights were out of operation, but it is unclear whether the pilot had checked it. He did not address the lights being out with air traffic control, but he was aware that the airport’s weather alert system was not working. Finally, the pilot is heard declaring that he will adhere to his plan to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.
“Doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a try,” he told the air traffic controller.
The plane crashed approximately 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) from the airport.
Baker stated that a power surge knocked out the airport’s weather system, but the pilot was aware of the fog, and an air traffic controller provided him with meteorological information from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, about 4 miles (6.44 kilometers) north.
Dave Shapiro, a music talent agent, and two workers of Sound Talent Group, the music agency he co-founded, were among the deceased, as was the former drummer for metal band The Devil Wears Prada. Shapiro, 42, has a pilot’s license and was listed as the plane’s owner.
Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25, both from Southern California and agency booking associates, perished.
The tragedy contributed to a long list of aviation mishaps this year, while federal officials attempted to reassure travelers that flying is the safest means of transportation, as data show.
Shapiro’s plane took off from Teterboro, New Jersey, near Manhattan, about 11:15 p.m. local time Wednesday, making a fuel stop in Wichita, Kansas, before continuing on to San Diego. He was returning to San Diego after Pierce The Veil, a band he manages, performed to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.
That nightly schedule would be prohibited for an airliner under federal crew rest laws, but they do not apply to private planes.
Assistant Chief Dan Eddy of the San Diego Fire Department stated that the fog was so dense in the morning that “you could barely see in front of you.”
Former NTSB and FAA crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti believes excessive fog and weariness from the pilot flying all night were likely causes in the tragedy.
“This accident has all the earmarks of a classic attempt to approach an airport in really bad weather and poor visibility,” according to Guzzetti. “And there were other airports that the crew could have gone to.”
He stated that pilots must monitor FAA posts known as Notices to Airmen, which inform pilots to any concerns such as out-of-service runway lights.
“It’s fairly easy for the pilot to get that information and they are required to get that information before any flight they take,” Guzzetti told CNN.
As the pilot descended, he was likely to realize that the lights were not working. Without lights, procedure required him to rise and divert to another airport, according to Guzzetti.
Fragments of the plane were discovered under power lines about a half block from the homes. It eventually lost a wing on the road directly behind the homes. Guzzetti stated that even if the plane had missed the power lines, it may still have crashed since it was coming in too low in the fog.
