FAA didn't issue key notice about malfunctioning airport weather observation system before deadly San Diego crash

Leading up to the fatal plane crash near Montgomery Field Airport early Thursday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration didn't issue a notification to pilots that a key weather observation system at the airport was malfunctioning, according to a review of agency notification records.

The small Cessna jet crashed into military housing near the San Diego’s Tierrasanta neighborhood. The six people who were on the plane are presumed to be dead, according to authorities.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues a “Notice to Airmen” — or NOTAM — when there are hazardous conditions or unusual circumstances that could impact flight plans. The notices include runway closures, lighting issues, instrumentation outages and other issues.

Montgomery Field is operated by the city and also known as Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.

Montgomery Field’s Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) began malfunctioning on Tuesday evening, as KPBS first reported. The system provides essential weather information that is critical for pilots to safely fly and land planes. FAA regulations indicate a NOTAM is supposed to be issued when there are “unreliable (intermittent) or inaccurate (erroneous) elements” coming from an ASOS.

“I am surprised that there was no NOTAM issued for the outage on an ASOS,” said Thomas Anthony, director of the Aviation Safety and Security Program at the University of Southern California. “The weather observation is a piece of critical information that a pilot needs to have in making his decision to land.”

When asked multiple times, the FAA would not directly address the lack of a notice about the ASOS outage at Montgomery Field.

“The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) is leading the investigation and will provide any updates,” said FAA spokesperson Steven Kulm in an email to KPBS. “The FAA cannot comment on an open investigation.”

The National Weather Service helps operate the nation’s ASOS system. Federal regulations indicate the National Weather Service is tasked with notifying the FAA of weather system outages and requesting NOTAMs to be issued.

A spokesperson for the National Weather Service did not respond to a request for comment.

Just before 4 a.m. Thursday, the aircraft crashed into military housing located in San Diego’s Tierrasanta neighborhood after hitting a powerline. The plane appeared to strike at least one home that had a charred and collapsed roof and smashed through a string of vehicles.

About 10 homes suffered damage but no one inside the homes needed transportation to the hospital, authorities said.

El-Cajon-based Sound Talent Group said the company’s co-founder Dave Shapiro died in the crash. Shapiro had a pilot’s license, according to FAA records, and he operated a flight instruction school. The plane that crashed is owned by an Alaska-based LLC; Shapiro is the registered agent for the company.

Leading up to the crash, a regional air traffic controller notified the pilot that the ASOS at Montgomery Field was out of service.

“Yeah, we noticed that,” the pilot responded, according to an air traffic control recording.

The pilot asked the air traffic controller about the weather conditions as he approached Montgomery Field.

“I just wanted to know if you really had any idea on the weather,” the pilot said.

The pilot had received a weather update from Gillespie Field, a county-owned public airport in El Cajon. But he expressed concern about relying on another airport’s weather instruments because the conditions could be “dramatically different.”

The air traffic controller pulled weather information from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar — about four miles from Montgomery Field. He told the pilot that visibility was about a half-mile and the ceiling was about 200 feet.

“That doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a go,” the pilot said.

It remains unclear when exactly the pilot found out the weather observation system was not working at Montgomery Field airport. A NOTAM could have warned him before he took off on the flight.

Anthony emphasized that plane crashes “are the result of several hazardous conditions coming together at one time.”

“So certainly, in this case, if the pilot had known that the weather observation system at Montgomery Field was not in operation, it may have caused him to change his decision making process,” Anthony said.

Randy Klatt, an advisory board member for the Foundation for Aviation Safety, reiterated that a NOTAM should have been issued.

“That's the whole essence of the system — we need to notify airmen,” said Klatt, who has decades of experience as a pilot for the U.S. Navy and commercial airlines.

He said the pilot handled the situation as best he could under the circumstances.

“I think he did a good job of asking the controllers for weather at different airports that were nearby (and) raised his level of knowledge about (the conditions),” he said.

According to Klatt, it’s hard to say whether a working ASOS or a NOTAM would have averted disaster.

“There are multiple factors involved in every mishap like this, and this is one small piece of it,” he said. “Better information probably would have been helpful, but I don't know that it would have changed the outcome.”

Authorities on Friday also confirmed the runway lights were not working at the time of the crash.