A private plane was approaching an airport in San Diego under heavy fog with non-functioning lights when it tragically crashed in a neighborhood, resulting in the deaths of six individuals aboard, including Dave Shapiro, a pioneering executive in the alternative music industry.
The incident sent shockwaves through the heavy metal and hard rock community, which has its roots in the punk movement. Shapiro’s co-founded music agency, Sound Talent Group, managed bands such as Pierce The Veil, Parkway Drive, and Sum 41, while also branching out to represent pop artists like Vanessa Carlton.
According to Dan Baker from the National Transportation Safety Board, pinpointing the exact cause of the crash might take up to a year. However, initial findings revealed obstacles such as thick fog, runway light issues, and a malfunctioning weather alert system.
Baker said the plane’s pilot and passengers were killed in the crash, but that no one on the ground was killed or seriously injured.
Authorities haven’t released the names of all six victims, but those who have been identified included a drummer and two employees of Sound Talent Group who shared Shapiro’s love of music.
Here’s what to know about them and the crash:
Dave Shapiro
It was the connections Shapiro, 42, made more than the music he played that made him successful.
He got into the music industry playing in the band — Count with Stars — that he founded with friends while in high school.
Shapiro helped bring the underground $10-a-show alternative scene in the 2010s to the mainstream. But he also was huge in creating a community, said Mike Shea, founder of Alternative Press Magazine.
“In this music industry, there are just too many people ripping people off and using people,” he said. “Dave was not like that.”
Shapiro was listed as the plane’s owner and had a pilot’s license. Officials have not said who was flying the plane.
Kendall Fortner and Emma Huke
Both Fortner, 24, and Huke, 25, joined Shapiro’s agency as booking associates after graduating from college, according to their bios released by Sound Talent Group, which confirmed both women were on the plane.
Fortner “was hooked on music” from a young age thanks to her father, who took her to concerts, and she showed an interest in working in the music industry as a teenager.
Huke, too, knew from a young age that she wanted to work in the music industry.
“There was nothing Emma loved more than live music,” the agency said, and she worked hard to save up money to attend concerts and festivals.
The agency said both Fortner and Huke were good at their jobs, which included planning tours.
A fifth passenger, 36-year-old Celina Marie Rose Kenyon, has been identified by the coroner’s office in San Diego as one of the victims. Kenyon wasn’t an employee of Sound Talent Group, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed Saturday.
Daniel Williams
Also killed was Daniel Williams, a former drummer for the popular Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada, celebrated for their ability to marry melodic punk rock with metallic detours.
When Williams “was in the band, that’s when they broke out,” Shea said.
Thomas Gutches, who manages rock bands and artists, recalled Williams’ ability to captivate audiences at shows with his drumming as much as a band’s frontman does.
“Daniel was putting on a show from his style of playing,” he said.
The Devil Wears Prada was a client of Sound Talent Group.
The plane crash
The plane was headed from New Jersey to San Diego after a fueling stop in Kansas. It crashed about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. Eight people on the ground were hurt, none seriously.
The Cessna 550 Citation went down after hitting power lines, Baker said.
The pilot of the plane acknowledged to an air traffic controller that the weather was not ideal and debated diverting to a different airport, according to audio of the conversation posted by LiveATC.net.
Airport problems
The Federal Aviation Administration posted an official notice that the runway lights at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport were out. The pilot didn’t discuss that with the controller but did mention he knew the airport’s weather alert system wasn’t working.
“Doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a go,” he told the air traffic controller.
The fog was so thick around the time of the crash that “you could barely see in front of you,” Assistant San Diego Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said.
Challenging year for US aviation
The U.S. saw its deadliest plane crash in more than 23 years in January when an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided in Washington. The crash killed every passenger on each aircraft, a total of 67 people.
A sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey last month, killing six people, while a small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska in early February, killing all 10 people on board.
In Philadelphia, a medical transport plane that had just taken off plummeted into a neighborhood in late January, killing all six people on board and two people on the ground.
