A few days ago, Vince Neil’s plane crashed into another aircraft and caused the passing of the pilot Joie Vitosky.
In a phone interview with The Arizona Republic, his daughter Jana Schertzer shared that her father had been flying for 60 years, starting in the U.S. Marine Corps with helicopters before transitioning to jets. “I honestly, wholeheartedly believe that the reason those other passengers are alive — it’s because of how he handled it yesterday,” she said.
The pilot was 78 years old, but Schertzer clarified that his vision had “nothing wrong. His vision was perfect — better than 20/20 vision.”
Mötley Crüe wrote at the time of the crash: “Earlier today a private plane owned by Vince Neil was involved in a crash near Scottsdale, AZ. The pilot was tragically killed; the co-pilot and other passengers were taken to local hospitals. Vince was not on the plane.”
An insider recently revealed what saved Neil from the crash — his own birthday party. His close friend, Lance Graves, told TMZ that Vince was in Florida celebrating his 64th birthday when the accident happened.
His girlfriend, Rain, was on the flight with a friend for a horse event. Since Vince didn’t need to be in Arizona until later, he stayed behind. Rain suffered five broken ribs in the crash, and her friend and the co-pilot were also injured.
Mötley Crüe’s manager said Vince is deeply affected by losing his longtime pilot. The band plans to support the pilot’s family and will announce details soon.
According to reports, the Learjet 35A departed from Austin and experienced landing gear failure before crashing into a parked Gulfstream at Scottsdale Airport.
