On June 17, 2019, about 1844 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna Citation 550, registration N320JT, was destroyed in a landing accident at Mesquite Airport (67L), Mesquite, Nevada. The pilot, the sole occupant, received minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Part 91 ferry flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the cross-country flight.
The flight departed Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), Pasco, Washington, about 1625 and had a filed destination of Henderson Executive Airport (HND), Las Vegas, Nevada. According to an ATC recording and radar data, the pilot was in contact with approach control and a radar track showed that the accident airplane was approaching the Las Vegas class B airspace from the northeast. The pilot’s speech was slurred, and the controller repeatedly asked if the oxygen system on the airplane was working properly.
As the airplane approached 67L from the northeast, the pilot stated he had the airport in sight and repeatedly requested a visual approach. The controller instructed the pilot to continue his flight to his destination of HND, which was another 85 miles past 67L in a southwest direction.
As the controller attempted to maintain communications, the pilot dropped off radar shortly after passing 67L. According to the pilot, during his descent to HND, the right thrust reverser lever “felt weird,” and the right thrust reverser warning light began to illuminate. He stated that he decided not to continue his flight into the “busy LAS [Las Vegas]-HND airspace.” The pilot canceled his IFR flight plan with the approach controller and proceeded to 67L.
He stated he continued his visual approach into 67L and upon landing, experienced a left yaw and opined that the left thrust reverser had fully deployed and the right one did not. After applying full right rudder, the airplane “ballooned” and soon after touched down “again” as the airplane continued to yaw to the left as it continued down the runway. The pilot stated that the airplane veered off the side of the runway and the landing gear then collapsed. He further stated that he attempted to extinguish the fire and was unsuccessful.
The surveillance video shown here captured the airplane as it was sliding across the runway shortly after landing. The main landing gear already collapsed before to the airplane enters the video frame, and a large fire and dark smoke follows the airplane as it slides down the runway. The airplane then disappears from view as it exits the runway near the runway’s departure end.
Local authorities responded to the accident site, and the airplane was found engulfed in flames. The pilot was clearly intoxicated, and stated to authorities that he had been drinking some vodka. The authorities asked about the amount of vodka he drank and the timeline of drinking it. The pilot stated that the vodka had burned in the fire and an accurate timeline was not given. (The pilot claimed he took a swig once he realized that he had survived.) After refusing standardized field sobriety tests, the pilot was arrested on suspicion of operating an aircraft while under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or controlled substance.
About two hours after the accident, a blood draw and subsequent analysis of that blood was performed by the City of Henderson Police Department, Henderson, Nevada. The results were positive for ethanol, with a blood alcohol count (BAC) of .288%. The limit while operating an aircraft is .040%.
On May 6, 2021, the no-longer-a-pilot, Ryan Dashiell, pleaded to – and was adjudicated guilty of – one count “operation of aircraft while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or controlled substance.” Dashiell was sentenced to time served, DUI school, a victim impact panel, and a $685 fine. Fees were waived, and by that point Dashiell had already completed the DUI school and impact panel.
The FAA was apparently a bit less forgiving. FAA records reflect that Dashiell’s pilot’s license is no longer existent.
00:00 Surveillance video of the crash
01:27 ATC playback (long silences truncated)
10:30 ATC playback continues, not truncated
13:48 Investigative material
16:13 Photographs
