By Miriam Raftery

May 24, 2025 (San Diego)  -- More details have emerged on the tragic crash of a Cessna plane into a military housing neighborhood near San Diego’s Murphy Canyon  on May 22^nd while attempting to land amid heavy fog at Montgomery Field.

All six people on board the plane died in the fiery crash. The pilot, Dave Shapiro, was the co-founder of the El Cajon-based music agency, Sound Talent group.  Shapiro also owned Velocity Aviation based at Gillespie Field in El Cajon.

According to Velocity’s website, he was a certified flight instruction who had logged over a million miles with 15 years of flight experience and was a licensed transport pilot for multi-engine planes, as well as holding licenses for everything from flying helicopters to aerobatics.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport’s weather alert system and runway approach lights were not working at the time, though the cause of the crash has not yet been determined. Shapiro was flying home from New Jersey and had refueled in Kansas.