Pilot killed in Arizona plane crash was veteran who flew for 60 years, daughter says

The pilot of a private jet who was killed in a collision at a small airport in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been identified by police as a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam before he began a decadeslong career flying private planes for the rich and famous.

Joie Vitosky, 78, was the sole fatal victim of the crash Monday afternoon that involved a Learjet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil that veered off the runway at Scottsdale Airport and hit a parked Gulfstream jet. Multiple people were injured, including Neil's girlfriend, Rain Hannah Andreani. Neil was not aboard the plane at the time of the crash.

Officials said it appears the Learjet's landing gear had failed and led to the collision, though no official cause has been identified. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the crash.

Vitosky's daughter, Jana Schertzer, told the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, that her father had been flying for 60 years, starting with helicopters when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps before eventually switching to jets.

Vitosky didn't envision having a career in the skies, his daughter said. He studied to become an engineer before he started flying for the military and serving several tours in Vietnam.

After leaving the Marines, Vitosky had an eclectic flying career, Schertzer said. He flew people such as Jesse Jackson, Maureen Reagan and owners of oil companies. He flew trips to retrieve parts for companies like FedEx and also flew transplant patients awaiting life-saving surgeries.

"It's a lot of stuff that can happen on a private plane," Schertzer said. "A lot of rich people, but he had a lot of people who needed something immediate."

Schertzer said her father had flown most of his family members at one point, including Schertzer and her two brothers.

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"We've all grown up going on trips with my dad when we were able to – when there was a seat available in the plane, and the passengers didn't mind us going," she said.

Schertzer said she expected some people would make assumptions about her father based on his age. She said he remained an extremely capable pilot, noting that her grandparents and great-grandparents on his side of the family lived well into their 90s.

While many 78-year-olds spend time enjoying their retirement, Schertzer said her father fell in love with flying.

“Instead of, you know, retiring and doing nothing, he did it literally until the day he died," she said.

Vitosky is survived by three children and two grandchildren, Schertzer said.

What happened at the Scottsdale Airport?

At about 2:30 p.m. Monday, private jets collided on the runway after the landing gear failed on a Learjet 35A arriving from Austin, according to airport officials.

The plane, which had two pilots, including Vitosky, and two passengers on board, veered off the runway and hit a parked Gulfstream jet with one person on board. Two people were critically injured. A third was injured, but not critically.

Air traffic controllers redirected planes after the collision occurred, according to audio recordings. One controller can be heard telling a pilot to maintain altitude and "go around."

"We just had an emergency," the controller says.

What do we know about the people who were hurt?

Andreani, the girlfriend of Mötley Crüe's lead singer, is the only person on board the planes who has been publicly identified other than Vitosky.

Andreani's presence on the plane was confirmed on CNN Tuesday by Mötley Crüe's manager, Allen Kovac. Kovac said Andreani was with a friend, and they were both injured, according to CNN.

Neil owned the Learjet but he was not on board the plane when it crashed on Monday, according to a filing with the Wyoming secretary of state.

"Mr. Neil's thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, and he is grateful for the critical aid of the first responders today," said a statement from Worrick Robinson, the vocalist's legal representative.

Crash is the latest in a series of airplane collisions

Monday's crash came after 10 people were killed in a plane crash near Nome, Alaska, on Feb. 6. Two crashes, one in Philadelphia and the other outside Washington, D.C., occurred in January, killing over 70 people total.

The last fatal crash at the Scottsdale Airport was in 2018. A pilot, student pilot and four passengers were killed after the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

The NTSB lists 15 fatal aircraft incidents in the Scottsdale area and four incidents involving a serious injury, with the earliest going back to the 1970s.

Two of the serious injuries involved student pilots, one involved a pilot having a hard landing after the plane's engine lost power and another involved a pilot having a forced landing after misjudging their altitude and clearance.