SAN DIEGO (California, US), May 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Six people were feared to have died after a small jet they were in flew through dense fog and crashed in a residential San Diego neighborhood early Thursday morning, injuring eight others on the ground and damaging 10 homes, officials said.
The jet, a Cessna Citation, crashed in Murphy Canyon near the Tierrasanta neighborhood just before 4 a.m., forcing the evacuation of about 100 people as flames billowed, the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.
At a news conference earlier on Thursday, Dan Eddy, San Diego’s assistant fire chief, said that at least two people who were on the plane had died and that he did not believe there would be any survivors. The Federal Aviation Administration said later on Thursday that there had been six people aboard the plane.
Dave Shapiro, 42, a veteran music agent and pilot who appeared to have a stake in the plane, was killed in the crash, according to the Sound Talent Group, the company he co-founded.
It was not immediately clear who was flying the plane. The agency represents dozens of music groups, including Jefferson Starship and Hanson.
A spokesman for the agency said in a statement that the company was “devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends.”
Daniel Williams, 39, a former drummer for the band the Devil Wears Prada, was feared to have died in the crash.
In an Instagram story posted Wednesday night, Williams shared an image of the plane on the tarmac before the flight and wrote that he was “flying back” with Shapiro. He shared two more images of himself seated in the cockpit.
Officials had not yet released the names of the people who were killed in the crash.
When officials arrived at the crash site Thursday morning, cars, lawns and several homes were on fire, and the time of the call — just before 4 a.m. — meant that many people were still asleep.
“I can’t quite put words to describe what the scene looked like with the jet fuel running down the streets and everything on fire all at once,” said Scott Wahl, the San Diego police chief. “It was pretty horrific to see.”
Officials did not immediately say what had caused the crash. There was a dense fog in the San Diego area in the early morning hours, and Eddy confirmed that a main power line had been hit.
The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
As the plane was approaching Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, the pilot asked an air traffic controller how limited the visibility was there, according to an audio transmission.
An automated system that gives pilots updates on the weather was out of service at the airport at the time, which the pilot and the controller discussed.
The air traffic controller told the pilot that the visibility was about a half-mile and the ceiling was about 200 feet for Miramar, California which is about 10 miles north of where the crash happened.
The residential neighborhood is home to many military families, according to Robert Heely, the commanding officer of Naval Base San Diego.
About 100 residents were evacuated on Thursday morning. Several blocks remain closed to traffic as debris is scattered on roofs, lawns and streets.
Burned cars littered the area, and firefighters were struggling to extinguish a car on fire about four hours after the crash.
The plane had been trying to land at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, across a highway from where it crashed. It had departed from Teterboro, N.J., late Wednesday night with a layover at Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kan., before flying toward San Diego, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking database.
The plane was built in 1985 and owned by Daviator, a limited liability company registered in Alaska, according to public records. Its name appeared to be a portmanteau of Shapiro’s given name, Dave, and aviator. The F.A.A. classified the company as a fractional ownership business, a popular arrangement in the aviation sector that allows people to buy a portion of a private plane. — NNN-AGENCIES
