Scottsdale plane crash: Daughter of pilot says he saved passengers' lives
The Brief
Pilot, Joie Vitosky, 78, was killed when the plane he was flying crashed into a parked plane at Scottsdale Airport on Feb. 10.
Three others on the plane were hurt, and another person in the parked plane was also injured.
Vitosky's daughter spoke to FOX 10 saying her father did all he could to protect those on board.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - We're learning more about the pilot who was killed in the Scottsdale plane crash on Monday, Feb. 10.
What we know
He was a private pilot flying for rockstar Vince Neil. However, Neil wasn't on the plane during this flight.
The plane, a Learjet, coming from Austin, Texas had trouble during the landing and slammed into a parked jet, a Gulfstream, on the runway. Investigators say the plane experienced a left main gear failure upon landing.
The NTSB is investigating, and asks for any witnesses to come forward.
What they're saying
The pilot, 78-year-old Joie Vitosky, was killed in the crash. Three others on the plane were hurt, and a person on the Gulfstream was also hurt.
The pilot's daughter, who lives 1,500 miles away, has a pretty good idea of what happened. She says her father did everything he could to save as many lives as possible.
"When it came on the news that it was Vince Neil, we were like, 'Oh yeah, my dad has been flying for him for years,'" Jana Schertzer, the pilot's daughter, said.
She spoke to FOX 10 on Feb. 12 from Gulfport, Mississippi.
She says her father flew choppers in the U.S. Marines, then became a private airplane pilot for about 60 years, flying high-profile people and medical patients all across the country.
"At 78, he was still mentally and physically fit," Schertzer said. "You still have to go through all these physicals and other things. They won't let you fly if you can't pass them. Well, he passed with flying colors."
"I have no doubt in my mind, but the reason these other people are alive is because of his skill and his decision-making it a split second," Schertzer said.
This story is about more than the crash, and the rockstar who owns the plane. It's about a daughter losing her father.
"He's well capable of doing anything and everything he could to save as many people as he could. I know that was his first thought, and he was going to carry it out into the end and that's what he did," she said.
She says authorities are doing an autopsy, and that her father will eventually be buried in his hometown outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
What's next
The NTSB says anyone with images or video of the crash can email them at witness@ntsb.gov.
The final NTSB report could take up to two years.
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