‘Top Gun’ stunt pilot held drug-fueled Burning Man-style party where ATV-riding woman plunged to her death off cliff: suit

A “Top Gun: Maverick” stunt pilot has settled a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman plunged to her death at his drug-fueled, Burning Man-style beach festival.

Tanya Hendry, 34, was on an ATV when it drove off a cliff near Harmony Headlands State Park in San Luis Obispo County, California, in December 2020.

She got stuck in the Can-Am all-terrain vehicle, while party host Jonathan Spano, the driver Maria Arayza-Alvarez and another passenger survived.

Her family said in a lawsuit that she “died a horrific and excruciating death by drowning.”

Spano hosted the festival on the remote beach because he was frustrated Burning Man had been canceled during the pandemic.

The stunt pilot, who provided a jet and flew for Top Gun” Maverick, was sued by Hendry’s family the same year the movie was released in 2022.

They accused Spano of neglecting “to take precautions at his cliffside property,” and that he had a history of hosting parties with drug use.

The Hendry family attorneys also said the leaser of the ATV, Khaled Azar, and Spano “actively encouraged, aided and abetted” the woman who drove drunk off the cliff that night.

Spano was expected to go to a jury trial over the civil suit but on February 17 reached out to Henry’s family with a settlement agreement. The exact details have not been released.

The ATV driver, Arayza-Alvarez, pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the incident and spent several months in prison.

Hendry worked as a bartender and an artist at the time of her death. The restaurant she worked at called her death “an unbelievable loss.”

A memorial post read: “She was always the first to start a fundraiser, give freely, or pass around a card when someone was down on their luck or had an occasion to mark. She loved her friends hard and we are so thankful that we got to call her one.”

In a November 2024 interview with Rotortrade, Spano said he had been in aviation for 15 years and was “obsessed” with airplanes, gliders, helicopters. “My passion is for aviation and flying,” he said.

He was part of the team who won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Top Gun.

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