The National Transportation Safety Board has released the preliminary report on the pre-dawn crash of a Cessna Citation S550 in San Diego last month, killing all five people on board and setting a military neighborhood ablaze.
The privately owned jet was at the end of an all-night flight that began on the East Coast around midnight local time. The pilot of the jet was the aircraft owner.
The NTSB report noted that although the Cessna S550 is usually a two-pilot aircraft, the jet owner had undergone a flight evaluation in December of 2024 and received an exemption to fly the Cessna S550 single-pilot. The pilot was based at KMYF.
One home and twenty cars were destroyed in the crash, and many more structures were damaged. Ring camera video from the event shows puddles of jet fuel burning and people running door to door to warn their neighbors of the danger. One hundred people were evacuated from their homes, and there were reports of at least eight people injured on the ground from smoke inhalation and exposure to burning jet fuel.
Photographs and video from the neighborhood show burned-out homes and cars and jet wreckage strewn in streets and yards while local law enforcement and investigators from the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration surveyed the scene.
According to the report and previously acquired ADS-B data, the pilot was attempting an instrument approach in thick fog and flew below the published glideslope. It collided with high-voltage power lines approximately 2 miles southeast of the airport. Investigators note pieces of the aircraft were found below the power lines.
History of the Flight
The jet departed from Teterboro Airport (KTEB) in New Jersey at approximately 11:15 p.m. EDT on May 22. The jet flew for 3.5 hours to Colonel James Jabara Airport (KAAO) in Wichita, Kansas, where it was refueled. At 2:36 a.m. CDT, it departed on the last leg of the flight to San Diego.
The pilot was in contact with the Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (SOCAL TRACON) controller while at 17,000 ft mean sea level (msl). The controller advised the pilot that the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) at KMYF was out of service. The pilot replied that he was aware of this. The controller asked the pilot what approach he would like to use to get into KMYF.
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The weather at the time of the accident included an AIRMET active for IFR conditions with ceilings below 1,000 feet and visibility less than 3 miles due to fog and mist.
The controller gave the weather for San Diego’s Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (KNKX) 3 miles to north, which was reporting visibility of one-half mile, and the pilot mentioned having checked the weather at Gillespie Field (KSEE) in El Cajon, California, 8 nm to the east. But he added that he was aware that the weather at KMYF could be different, and he had checked the weather at Brown Field Municipal Airport (KSDM), which was 17 nm away, but decided against it because the weather minimums for approach were higher.
The controller asked the pilot what he wanted to do, and the pilot requested the RNAV 28R at KMYF. According to the published approach procedure, the visibility minimum for the approach is three-quarters of a mile. The pilot did not specify whether he would fly the localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) or the lateral navigation (LNAV) approach. The LPV has lower weather minimums of the two, as it requires a ceiling of 673 feet versus 750 for the LNAV.
The controller cleared the pilot for the approach, and when the airplane was about 10 miles northeast of the NESTY, an initial approach fix (IAF), the controller asked the pilot if he was going to “make your descent” and asked if he would like vectors to the south. The aircraft was at an altitude of 8,000 ft msl and 270 knots ground speed at that time. The pilot answered, “I think we’ll be alright.”
The controller informed the pilot that he was 5 miles from NESTY and instructed them to cross NESTY at or above 3,800 ft MSL and cleared the pilot for the RNAV approach to runway 28R at KMYF. The pilot acknowledged the clearance.
ADS-B data showed the airplane subsequently turned abeam NESTY at about 3,750 ft msl and a ground speed of 200 knots. It continued to slow and descend, and as it continued on the approach, crossing PENYY, the final approach fix, at an altitude of 2,450 ft msl and a ground speed of about 175 knots.
As per procedure, the pilot switched frequencies to continue the approach. Although KMYF is a towered airport, the tower was closed as the hours of operation are between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time. The pilot made a position call on the KMYF common traffic advisory frequency stating he was 3 miles from the airport and on the approach. This was followed by the sound of the microphone button being keyed 7 times, which is the procedure for activating pilot-controlled lighting. Seven clicks bring the lights up to maximum intensity.
The airplane crossed PALOS, located 2.9 nm from the runway 28R displaced threshold, at 03:46 a.m. at an altitude of about 1,190 ft msl, 190 feet below the published minimum crossing altitude. The aircraft’s ground speed was approximately 120 knots.
The NTSB report notes that at the time of the accident, there was a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) in effect informing pilots that the Runway Alignment Indicator (RAI) lights were out of service. These lights are arranged in distinctive patterns and are located before the approach end of the runway. They act as a path for the pilot to follow before the lights that are on either side of the runway come into view.
The RAIs at KMYF had been out of service since March 28, 2022.
“The repairs of the affected RAI lighting components and replacement of the light system have been delayed, awaiting completion of an environmental study. All other runway lighting was operable at the time of the accident,” the report noted.
Investigators state the aircraft struck the power transmission lines located 1.8 nautical miles from the runway. The lines were 90-95 ft above the ground.
Per the report, “Portions of the left horizontal stabilizer, left elevator, and the vertical stabilizer were located about 200 ft downrange of the lines. The debris field was about 1,200 ft in length.”
It was noted that the airplane’s main wreckage, “which consisted of thermally damaged remnants of the cabin, engines, and left wing, were located on a residential street about 1.6 nm from the runway 28R displaced threshold.”
The wreckage was recovered for examination. Among the components were a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the left and right engine Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) units. The airplane was not equipped with a flight data recorder.
The NTSB final report on the accident is likely more than a year away.
