A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil, which crashed in Arizona earlier this month, appeared to have experienced a landing gear malfunction. The report stated that the plane’s left landing gear was not in its normal position when it was descending to Scottsdale Airport, resulting in a collision with another private aircraft that killed the 78-year-old pilot and injured four others.
The same jet had been involved in a landing mishap eight months prior, where it made a hard landing in Oklahoma, causing damage to the left main landing gear. Neil had recently become the owner of the plane following the incident in June. The report also indicated that a mechanic had performed a hard-landing inspection on the aircraft before Neil acquired it.
Despite no radio calls about landing gear issues from the flight crew, the Learjet did not have reverse thrusters or deploy its drag chute during the crash. The cause of the landing gear failure will not be known until the final investigation report is released, which could take one to two years. Additionally, the report mentioned that the plane had departed from Florida before stopping in Austin, Texas, for refueling before heading to Scottsdale.
The only identified individuals on board the plane were Vitosky, the pilot who was fatally injured, and Neil’s girlfriend, Rain Hannah Andreani. The NTSB has reported a total of 15 fatal aircraft incidents in the Scottsdale area, with the most recent one occurring in 2018, where six individuals lost their lives in a crash shortly after takeoff.
