Latest news with #DaveShapiro
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Famous drummer was killed in private jet crash after posting photo of himself at CONTROLS
A famous drummer has died in a private jet crash that killed at least two people hours after he shared a photo of himself at its controls. Daniel Williams, formerly of hugely-popular Christian metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada, filmed himself boarding the Cessna 550 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey late Wednesday night. The drummer, 39, also shared pictures of him at the controls of the small aircraft, said that he was the 'co-pilot now'. It's unclear if he was joking. An eerie final post showed him at the plane's controls with the caption: 'Here we gooooo' The plane, with a tail number of N666DS, took off from Teterboro Airport in on Wednesday at 11.15pm ET, tracking data reveals. It stopped for fuel in Wichita, Kansas before continuing on to California, where the Cessna ultimately crashed in a quiet military neighborhood in San Diego, close to its intended final destination of Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. Williams, 39, lived in San Diego, the intended destination of the jet. He left The Devil Wears Prada - a hugely popular Christian metalcore band in 2016 - and became a software engineer. He shared a snap to his Instagram stories as he boarded the plane in the Garden State late Wednesday night. Williams told his followers that he was flying with music agent and pilot Dave Shapiro, who, according to aircraft registration records, had just purchased the eight-seater plane in July last year. On Wednesday, investigators confirmed both people on board the plane died. Eight people were injured, although investigators haven't said if they were on the ground. Shapiro's friend Ryan Bruce, a music producer, paid tribute to the pair, telling Daily Mail: 'Dave changed mine and a lot of other people's lives and the community he built and the network of bands he has worked with and supported will never forget him. 'Daniel left us a lot of music to remember him by and he was a super sweet guy.' This picture appears to have been taken before the jet departed from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on Wednesday at 11.15pm. It is unclear if Williams got off the plane in Wichita or continued onwards to San Diego Bruce also remembered the pair on his Instagram. He shared a photo of of Williams and his friend Shapiro with the captions 'Rest easy' and heart emojis. Music executive Terrance Coughlin paid tribute to Williams and Shapiro on X. He wrote: 'Rest in Peace Dave Shapiro, Daniel Williams, and everyone on that flight. Some of my very first shows were booked through Dave. 'I had a handful of shows with Daniel, always a pleasure to see him play. Gone way too soon.' Tony Cappocchi, a music agent, paid tribute to Shapiro, telling Daily Mail: 'Dave was a great friend of ours.' A spokesperson for Sound Talent Group confirmed in a statement to Daily Mail that three of its employees were on the plane. 'We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends. Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted by today's tragedy,' the statement read. 'Thank you so much for respecting their privacy at this time.' It is unclear at this time which Sound Talent Group employees were on the plane. The Cessna then flew to Colonel James Jabara Airport, landing there at 1:49am CT. It refueled and took off again at 2:36am CT. The plane had been due to arrive at San Diego's Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport just before 4am PT, but never made it to its final destination. The plane crashed just before 4am into the US military's largest housing neighborhood. Officials say that everyone on board the luxurious plane is feared to have died in the ensuing fireball. At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris that spread over a wide area, and cars on both sides of a street went up in flames. A family of five was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and another person was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained while climbing out of a window trying to flee. Two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene. San Diego officials haven't released details about the plane but did confirm the flight had come in from the Midwest. Flight tracking site FlightAware lists a Cessna Citation II jet scheduled to arrive at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport in San Diego at 3.47am from the small Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas. Officials at the Kansas airport said it made a fueling stop in Wichita. The flight originated Wednesday night in Teterboro, New Jersey. The airport in Teterboro is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Manhattan and is used by the rich and famous to fly in and out of New York City on private jets. In the San Diego neighborhood, the smell of jet fuel lingered in the air hours after the crash while authorities worked to extinguish one stubborn car fire. First responders described a frightening scene in the aftermath of the crash. 'I can't quite put words to describe what the scene looks like, but with the jet fuel going down the street, and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,' San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said. Chunks of metal from the aircraft littered the street, but no discernible body of the plane could be seen. Half a dozen fully charred cars sat on the street, and tree limbs, melted trash cans, glass and pieces of white and blue metal were scattered around. At the end of the block, black smoke billowed as a car continued to smolder while water mixed with jet fuel flowed down the street. More than 50 police officers responded to the scene within minutes and began evacuating homes. At least 100 residents were displaced to an evacuation center at a nearby elementary school. Police officers were rescuing multiple animals, including three husky puppies that were rolled away from the crash scene in a wagon. A few blocks away, families stood in their pajamas in a parking lot waiting for word of when they could return to their homes. The neighborhood is made up of single-family homes and townhomes. Montgomery-Gibbs airport is about 2 miles away. San Diego Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said it was very foggy at the time the private plane crashed. 'You could barely see in front of you,' he said. Officials were looking into whether the plane clipped a power line before crashing into the neighborhood. The Federal Aviation Administration said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. In October 2021, a twin-engine plane plowed into a San Diego suburb, killing the pilot and a UPS delivery driver on the ground and burning homes. It was preparing to land at the airport. In December 2008, a US Marine Corps fighter jet slammed into a house in San Diego's University City neighborhood, causing an explosion that killed four people inside. The Marine Corps blamed the crash on mechanical failure and human error.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
New report details final minutes of flight that killed rock drummer and 5 others in San Diego
The private jet that crashed last month in San Diego, killing all six on board, was flying too low before it hit power lines and slammed into a house, investigators said Wednesday. According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report, the plane reached a descent point about three miles from the runway that was too low, before dropping to 60 feet above ground level. The power lines that the plane struck were about 90 feet above the ground and about 1.8 nautical miles away from the runway. Portions of the plane's left horizontal stabilizer and its vertical stabilizer were later found about 200 feet downrange of the power lines, according to the NTSB report. The plane then slammed into a house in a nearby San Diego neighborhood. The victims of the crash included rock drummer Daniel Williams, music agent Dave Shapiro, booking associate Emma L. Huke, 25, photographer Celina Marie Rose Kenyon, 35, and booking associate Kendall Fortner, 24. Eight people on the ground had minor injuries, investigators said. Shapiro was flying the Cessna Citation jet on May 22 from Teterboro, N.J., with plans to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego, when he encountered low visibility and thick fog, according to the four-page NTSB report. Read more: Airport weather systems, runway lights were out during deadly Cessna crash in San Diego The automated system that provides weather conditions and runway lights weren't operating at the airport before the plane crashed, the report confirmed. The NTSB report said the pilot told the control tower that he knew the system that provides weather information was out of commission. The NTSB report said that the pilot asked the air traffic controller to help him determine the weather conditions at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. Instead, the report said the controller gave the pilot the weather conditions at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, located about four miles north, where winds were calm and visibility was up to half a mile. The report also said that the runway lighting system had not been working since March 28, 2022, and that the repairs had been delayed awaiting the completion of an environmental study. The preliminary report did not include any conclusions or discuss wrongdoing and does not say when a final report is expected to be released. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
21 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
New report details final minutes of flight that killed rock drummer and 5 others in San Diego
The private jet that crashed last month in San Diego, killing all six on board, was flying too low before it hit power lines and slammed into a house, investigators said Wednesday. According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report, the plane reached a descent point about three miles from the runway that was too low, before dropping to 60 feet above ground level. The power lines that the plane struck were about 90 feet above the ground and about 1.8 nautical miles away from the runway. Portions of the plane's left horizontal stabilizer and its vertical stabilizer were later found about 200 feet downrange of the power lines, according to the NTSB report. The plane then slammed into a house in a nearby San Diego neighborhood. The victims of the crash included rock drummer Daniel Williams, music agent Dave Shapiro, booking associate Emma L. Huke, 25, photographer Celina Marie Rose Kenyon, 35, and booking associate Kendall Fortner, 24. Eight people on the ground had minor injuries, investigators said. Shapiro was flying the Cessna Citation jet on May 22 from Teterboro, N.J., with plans to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego, when he encountered low visibility and thick fog, according to the four-page NTSB report. The automated system that provides weather conditions and runway lights weren't operating at the airport before the plane crashed, the report confirmed. The NTSB report said the pilot told the control tower that he knew the system that provides weather information was out of commission. The NTSB report said that the pilot asked the air traffic controller to help him determine the weather conditions at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. Instead, the report said the controller gave the pilot the weather conditions at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, located about four miles north, where winds were calm and visibility was up to half a mile. The report also said that the runway lighting system had not been working since March 28, 2022, and that the repairs had been delayed awaiting the completion of an environmental study. The preliminary report did not include any conclusions or discuss wrongdoing and does not say when a final report is expected to be released.
CNN
a day ago
- General
- CNN
NTSB investigators find San Diego jet was flying too low on its descent path before fiery crash
The private jet that crashed into a San Diego neighborhood last month was too low on its descent path for more than a mile before clipping power lines less than 100 feet above the ground, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Wednesday. The new findings are part of a preliminary report from the NTSB on the fiery May 22 crash that killed all six on board including music agent Dave Shapiro, who was piloting the Cessna Citation jet, and famed rock drummer Daniel Williams. The crash occurred before sunrise in thick fog and low visibility as the overnight flight from Teterboro, New Jersey, was lining up to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. Newly released data from the NTSB shows the jet reached a prescribed descent point roughly 3 miles from the runway already too low, then the plane continued to descend to a mere 60 feet above ground level. The preliminary report does not specify why the flight was too low on the approach path. Investigators say they are still analyzing the plane's cockpit voice recorder. NTSB investigators found parts of the plane's tail near 90- to 95-foot-high power transmission lines, which they classified in the report as the 'first identified point of contact.' The main parts of the wreckage, including the passenger cabin and left wing, came to rest in a neighborhood street about a quarter of a mile away, the NTSB said. Nobody on the ground was seriously hurt by the impact, though the NTSB said eight people on the ground received minor injuries. Compounding problems, the airport's automatic weather reporting system was out of service, causing air traffic controllers to relay to Shapiro the conditions at the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar some four miles away. The NTSB noted part of the airport's lighting system that helps guide pilots in low visibility approaches was out of service since 2022. The report does not find a probable cause, which is due in a final report typically published within two years of the crash. Correction: A previous version of this story gave the wrong day for the release of the NTSB report. It was released Wednesday.
New York Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Investigators reveal disturbing details surrounding private jet crash that killed The Devil Wears Prada drummer, 5 others
The runway lights that would have helped guide a doomed private jet carrying The Devil Wears Prada drummer Daniel Williams and music industry big shot Dave Shapiro before it crashed in San Diego hadn't been working since 2022, federal investigators revealed. The jet was also coming in too low in foggy weather and struck power lines as it attempted to descend into the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, according to the investigators. The details on the May 22 crash that killed all six passengers were laid bare in the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report published Wednesday. 4 Williams performs at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at San Manuel Amphitheater on June 30, 2012, in San Bernardino, California. Getty Images In addition to the lower-than-average descent and non-existent runway lights, the NTSB determined several other factors also led up to the tragedy — including the pilot not discussing alternate airport weather conditions with the air traffic controller. The pilot had acknowledged that weather conditions weren't ideal and debated diverting to a different airport while discussing the visibility with the controller, according to audio. 4 Debris covers the ground after a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood. AP 4 Authorities work the scene where a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, setting several homes on fire and forcing evacuations along several blocks early Thursday, May 22, 2025. AP But the pilot declared 'I think we'll be alright' before going ahead with the landing attempt. The FAA had posted an official notice for pilots that the runway alignment lights were out of service, but NTSB investigators noted that had been the case since 2022 due to delayed repairs. It wasn't immediately clear if the pilot, who had been based at the airport, knew the lights were out of service at the time. The NTSB added, too, that the plane was only about 60 feet above the ground — almost 200 feet lower than required — when it struck the power lines. 4 Former The Devil Wears Prada drummer Daniel Williams shared haunting photos to his Instagram story of the plane he was taking to California hours before it crashed. @xcadaverx/Instagram An official cause of the crash hasn't yet been determined. The NTSB's final report will be issued later this year. With Post wires
