Early yesterday morning, a private jet tragically crashed in San Diego. While there are lots more questions than answers as of now, the air traffic control audio from this is quite something…
In this post:
Cessna Citation II crashed on approach to San Diego
Shortly before 4AM on Thursday, May 22, 2025, a 40-year-old Cessna Citation II with the registration code N666DS crashed (that’s quite the registration code). The plane was on approach to San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF), where visibility was just half a mile, with a low cloud ceiling.
The plane crashed into a residential area (with military housing) of Murphy Canyon, around two miles from the airport. The aircraft first struck power lines, then clipped part of a house, before coming to a stop a little further north. In total, 10 homes were damaged, with one being completely destroyed.
The plane was being flown by 42-year-old Dave Shapiro, a music industry executive who also seemed to be a huge aviation geek, as he owned a flight school, and used to be a flight instructor. It’s believed that there were six people on the plane, including former musician Daniel Williams, who had posted pictures from the plane on Instagram before the flight.
VASAviation has the air traffic control audio from this incident. First of all, this is almost eerie to listen to, since sadly you know these were likely among the last words that the pilot was speaking (it’s my understanding that it was Shapiro communicating). He comes across as polite, calm, and competent. Second of all, it’s pretty incredible how within hours of an accident, we can have the air traffic control audio and an exact visualization of what happened.
Listening to the audio, you can’t help but realize what a challenging situation this is. He asked the air traffic controller for an updated weather report, saying “I want to see what I’m in for here.” When he was given the information, he said “alright, doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a go.”
He asked for alternatives, only to learn those weren’t much better either. The last phrase is probably the most noteworthy — “we’ll hopefully not see you… but we might have to.”
It’s all just heartbreaking. May those onboard who lost their lives rest in peace, and may those on the ground who were injured make quick recoveries.
Fatigue & “get-there-itis” may be contributing factors
Based on what we know so far, the aircraft was on the correct course, it was just way too low. Since the aircraft was on an instrument approach, one certainly wonders what went wrong that caused the plane to impact the ground two miles from the runway. With very little visibility, I imagine the pilot had no clue what was happening until seconds before the plane impacted the ground (if that).
It’s hard to imagine that fatigue and “get-there-itis” didn’t factor into this in some way. The plane was coming from New York — it took off from Teterboro Airport in New York (TEB) at 11:15PM the night before, and operated a 3hr34min flight to Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita (AAO). There the jet was refueled for around 45 minutes, before taking off at 2:36AM local time, and operating the 3hr11min flight to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego (MYF).
Flying for nearly eight hours overnight is exhausting, especially on such a small jet, and especially when they all presumably had a full day in New York (it’s not like he’s an airline pilot, and his job is to sleep as much as possible before a flight). Keep in mind that weather in the San Diego area was fine when they initially left New York, and it deteriorated as they approached. While approaching San Diego, you could hear the pilot asking about alternative airports, but those weren’t much better either.
I’m not saying either of those were the root causes of this — we have to wait for an investigation — but the combination of fatigue and lack of good alternatives is a story that we’ve heard many times before, and I’m sure that will be closely investigated.
Bottom line
A Cessna Citation II crashed into a residential area in San Diego, two miles from the runway. This happened in the early hours of the morning, with very limited visibility. What a heartbreaking accident, especially when you consider the factors here, and hear the air traffic control audio.
The pilot had been flying all night from New York, the alternatives weren’t looking good, etc. One can’t help but wonder if this would’ve ended differently if exhaustion weren’t such a factor, and/or if the alternative airports had better conditions. May those who lost their lives rest in peace.
What do you make of this incident?
Ugh. It’s just tragic. He sounds alert, more than competent, and it appeared he had every intention of respecting the minimums and going around if needed (“hope not to see you but we might.”) All these things put together [to me] indicate a pilot that knows the limitations of himself and his aircraft and has no intention of going “off book.”
I know you can’t 100% believe the playback, but the altitude does go up...
Ugh. It’s just tragic. He sounds alert, more than competent, and it appeared he had every intention of respecting the minimums and going around if needed (“hope not to see you but we might.”) All these things put together [to me] indicate a pilot that knows the limitations of himself and his aircraft and has no intention of going “off book.”
I know you can’t 100% believe the playback, but the altitude does go up 100’ right before radar contact is lost. Just wild conjecture that he was paying more attention to trying to see the runway than his instruments.
Many years ago, 2009 IIRC, I was flying into KSNA (we originated at KPAO) with my boyfriend on a C172 on a foggy morning. It was a pretty intense approach threading our way through LA’s busy airspace and we were both moderately fatigued having woken up at ~0400 and taken off from KPAO at ~0500 and flown for a few hours. We were established on the ILS for 20R and a private jet blew a tire on their takeoff roll on 20R shortly after the tower had cleared us to land. Just as the PJ pilot reported the incident to tower, both runways came into view for us. (Cloud bottoms were probably 1000’ and we were maybe a mile or so from the field at the time, but don’t quote me on the specifics.) Tower told us to go around and my bf said “we have 20L in view if you want us to land there.” Tower quickly agreed and we made a pretty aggressive side-step maneuver and safely landed on 20L.
After landing and tying up the plane, my bf remarked “that was probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done in a plane. We weren’t tight on fuel yet. We could have just as easily held for a bit and diverted to KFUL or KHHR. I know I was just thinking on my feet but that was one landing I shouldn’t have made. It was simply unnecessary; I just figured the field would close for an hour or two and we didn’t have that kind of fuel to burn, but diverting would have been safer.”
I have no doubt he wouldn’t have suggested 20L if he didn’t think he could safely land there (and also no doubt he would have gone around if that changed), but it just exemplifies the fact that a split second decision can have major consequences. Fortunately, all was well for us, but this sad incident reminded me of our occurrence way back when.
To add, he did self-report the incident to the FAA after the fact. No action was taken as nothing was a FAR violation but it was a good learning experience.
I live in San Diego and I believe the pilot was talking to air traffic control at Gillespie Field, which is east of Montgomery Field. Fog is almost always worse at the coast. When the pilot says he hopes not to see the air traffic controller, I believe he means he hopes not to have to divert to Gillespie Field, which would have had less fog because it is further inland. Unfortunately, that is what should have occurred.
In the audio, right after getting the Gillespie weather, he does state that while the Gillespie weather was better, that airport has higher "minimums" than Montgomery, so it was basically a wash.
For a pilot.minimums" are basically how low you can descend on the approach without seeing the runway (the exact way it works varies depending on what kind of an approach you're doing). So think of the "spread" between the actual weather vs...
In the audio, right after getting the Gillespie weather, he does state that while the Gillespie weather was better, that airport has higher "minimums" than Montgomery, so it was basically a wash.
For a pilot.minimums" are basically how low you can descend on the approach without seeing the runway (the exact way it works varies depending on what kind of an approach you're doing). So think of the "spread" between the actual weather vs the minimums of the approach he'd be doing at each airport.
Hypothetically:
-Montgomery was reporting cloud base at 200 feet. If the minimum is 200', there is hope of seeing runway.
-Gillespie was reporting 300' which is better, but if the minimum is 400', you're probably not going to get in.
Listening to it last night gave me goose bumps, they sounded so calm and looking at alternates if needed, RIP.
I own/operate a similar version of this plane, and fly single pilot including on occasional transcon trips (though not redeyes). I've heard through the grapevine that this pilot was experienced, sensible, safety oriented, and just a genuinely nice guy. Sounds like he regularly does this late night trip like this, and was based at this airport so likely familiar with the approach and runway environment in these conditions. This aircraft had upgraded engines but lacked...
I own/operate a similar version of this plane, and fly single pilot including on occasional transcon trips (though not redeyes). I've heard through the grapevine that this pilot was experienced, sensible, safety oriented, and just a genuinely nice guy. Sounds like he regularly does this late night trip like this, and was based at this airport so likely familiar with the approach and runway environment in these conditions. This aircraft had upgraded engines but lacked a glass cockpit.
That being said, the "holes in the Swiss cheese" are many here:
1. Fatigue / late departure time
2. Low IFR conditions (not in and of its self a risk)
3. Night
4. Pre-mature disconnect of the autopilot (my hypothesis)
5. Limited alternates
I firmly believe the single pilot operation of jets like this is very safe so you minimize your risk factors. The number of factors on this flight is far beyond my personal tolerances.
Sad outcome for a flight that should have just left at 7 or 8 AM the next morning.
Dinosaurs like JoeAmateurSaurus can get fatigue.
But Joe wants to live like a king holding flying public as hostages.
Ben asks: “What do you make of this incident?”
Well now, in my opinion, from the information available in the article, only a numpty would hazard a guess.