Lights out at airport where doomed jet was supposed to land before crash that killed famous drummer, music agent
The runway lights were out, a weather alert system wasn’t working and there was heavy fog at a San Diego airport when a pilot who had flown across the country made the decision to proceed with landing but came up short and crashed into a neighborhood, killing all six aboard the aircraft, investigators said Friday.Investigator Dan Baker of the National Transportation Safety Board said officials will work over the next year to determine what caused the Cessna 550 Citation to crash just before 4 a.m.
local time Thursday.The jet was carrying a music executive and five others.
No one in the neighborhood of U.S.Navy housing died, but eight people were treated for smoke inhalation from the fiery crash and non-life threatening injuries.The pilot acknowledged the weather conditions for landing at the small airport were not ideal and debated diverting to a different airport while discussing the 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 Federal Aviation Administration had posted an official notice for pilots that the lights were out of service, but it’s not known whether the pilot had checked it.He didn’t discuss the lights being out with air traffic control, but was aware that the airport’s weather alert system was inoperable.
Ultimately, the pilot is heard saying that he’ll stick with the plan to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.“Doesn’t sound great but we’ll give it a go,” he told the air traffic controller.
The plane crashed about 2 miles from the airport.Baker said a power surge knocked out the weather system at the airport but the pilot was aware of the fog and an air traffic controller gave him weather information from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, about 4 miles north.
Music talent agent Dave Shapiro, and two unnamed employees of the music agency he co-founded, Sound Talent Group, were among the dead along w...