Pilots, FAA Employee Blamed in Crash

The late pilot and co-pilot of a plane that crashed near San Diego last year, killing eight members of country singer Reba McEntire’s entourage, shared blame for the tragedy with the Federal Aviation Administration employee who gave them flight instructions, a final report said Monday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the “probable causes” of the crash were “improper planning/decision by the pilot, the pilot’s failure to maintain proper altitude and clearance over mountainous terrain and the co-pilot’s failure to adequately monitor the progress of the flight.”

The NTSB said that “insufficient terrain information provided by the (FAA) flight service specialist” was a “related factor.”

The twin-engine executive jetliner slammed into the 3,572-foot-tall Otay Mountain at 1:43 a.m. on March 16, 1991, about five minutes after it took off from Brown Field, near the U.S.-Mexico border.

All 10 on board were killed, including the pilot, Capt. Don Holms; the co-pilot, Chris Hollinger; tour manager Jim Hammon, and seven musicians: Chris Austin, Paula Evans, Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello, Michael Thomas, Anthony Saputo and Joey Cigianero.

Shortly before takeoff, Holms asked if he could fly northeast below 3,000 feet. An unidentified FAA employee said, “That’ll be fine,” and did not tell him about the mountain.