Preliminary Reports
Pilot of Crashed Citation Lacked Type Rating
Cessna 560 Citation V, Jan. 9, 2021, 14 miles southeast of Pine Grove, Oregon – The pilot of the Cessna Citation that crashed into the Mutton Mountains on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation did not hold a type rating for the accident airplane, though he was rated for the Learjet and the Grumman G-111 Albatross. Historical flight data and statements from acquaintances suggest that the accident took place on his first solo flight in the Citation. He was killed after the airplane spiraled down in a one-mile radius right turn from FL310 to the accident site at an elevation of 3,600 feet, a descent that took some eight minutes. The owner of a training facility in Arizona told investigators that while the private pilot had taken a Cessna 560 transition course in late 2020, he “had not performed to a level sufficient to be issued a type rating or single-pilot exemption.”