Two bulldozers were dispatched to plow a primitive path off nearby Highway 568 in order to give a ground path available to the first responders. A string of rowdy incidents on previous chartered flights including an alleged attempt to toss a roadie out from an altitude of 13,000 feet had ensured that Lynyrd Skynyrd were unwelcome on most private airlines, so it fell to the bands manager, Peter Rudge, to obtain a vehicle of their own where they could be free to misbehave. On October 20, 1977, three days after releasing their album Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, and boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University. Then he spotted Pyle trying to crawl out of the wreckage, his ribs "sticking out" of his chest, as Powell told Rolling Stone (via Check Six). I saw the plane smack the ground. Pyle, Frank, and Peden were met with hostility when they finally came up to Mote. One of them being completely decapitated. Decades later, he gave an account of the flight's final moments on a VH1 Behind The Music special, stating that Van Zant, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown violently from his seat and died immediately when his head hit a tree as the plane broke apart. [9], Cassie Gaines had been so fearful of flying in the Convair that she had preferred to travel in the band's cramped equipment truck instead, but Van Zant convinced her to board the plane on October 20. Everyone just stood there helpless. Artimus Pyle and Gary Rossington are the only two members alive today from the crash. Photo: Pinterest. The pain, the scars, the metal rod in one arm - frequent reminders of October 20, 1977, the day Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down near McComb, Mississippi. Contributing to the fuel exhaustion were inadequate flight planning and an engine malfunction of undetermined nature in the right engine that resulted in "torching" and higher-than-normal fuel consumption. Then, in October, theSecond U.S. [19] The site of the crash has become a memorial for fans, rescuers and survivors, with an oak tree that has been carved with Lynyrd Skynyrd iconography, while the site was also the location of a fortieth anniversary memorial by survivors and rescuers. LYNYRD SKYNYRD PLANE CRASH PHOTOS - YouTube 0:00 / 1:36 LYNYRD SKYNYRD PLANE CRASH PHOTOS THE REAPER FILES 218K subscribers Subscribe 352 Share Save 117K views 7 years ago These are the. But it would be 10 harrowing minutes before the plane touched down. Of course I said, Ronnie, dont talk like that, but the man knew his destiny. On October 20th, he was 87 days from his limit. The Honkettes vocalist had sat out the first few tour dates, but Van Zant called just prior to the Greenville gig to invite her to return to the fold when the band hit Little Rock, Arkansas, in the coming days. Many in the bands circle believe Van Zant had a premonition of his fate. All we heard was air, wind, recalled Powell. And they had good reason to be: Lynyrd Skynyrds rickety Convair 240, pushing 30 years old, was obviously past its prime. The whole scene tore him apart. The remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd would spend much of the following decade struggling to cope with their losses. Three crew members died in a plane crash just three days after the release of their 5th album. These are 11 artists who died tragically as the result of a plane crash. In addition, several expanded and re-mastered versions of the album are available today. At 6:42 p.m. McCreary frantically radioed Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center. [10] Pyle suffered broken ribs but managed to leave the crash site and notify a nearby resident. The sun was setting and you could see the contrails from the aircraft. They all looked at Lacy through stitches and swelling and he told me not to say anything about Ronnie, Barnes told Team Rock. In the wake of the plane crash, grieving fans and curious music lovers turned to the ominous cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's latest album, Street Survivors. Inside, the cabin seats were torn apart as the plane continued on its path. Im a Marine. One local resident recalled, "I found someone on the ground alive. Bassist Leon Wilkeson had arguably the most harrowing recovery; as he faced many internal injuries, dislodged teeth, and a broken left arm and leg, his heart stopped twice on the operating table. Houston asked McCreary to confirm that. Allen Collins, who lost fellow members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1977 plane crash and was paralyzed four years . Cassie Gaines was one of the band members who boarded the ill-fated flight. On the original pressing of the cover of Street Survivors was a photograph of the band engulfed in flames. Fact-Checking the Aretha Franklin Biopic, Jeff Buckleys Grace: 10 Things You Didnt Know, Flashback: Back to the Future Has Everyone Wanting to Play Johnny B Goode Like Michael J. I jumped off and there were people screaming. Artimus Pyle, drummer for the band, stops for a quick picture while en route to the next show. The trees kept getting closer, they kept getting bigger, Powell told Rolling Stone in 1977. That left Rossington and Pyle as the only surviving members of the original band. Fearing escaped convicts from a nearby prison camp, Mote hopped in his pickup truck to investigate the area, only to find the three bloodied and dirty men on a nearby path. Thinking the men were escaped convicts, Mote fired his rifle in the air before he realized they needed help. Attempts to maneuver a soft landing in a field or stretch of highway proved fruitless as the craft sank lower and lower into the remote forest a short distance from the Mississippi/Louisiana border. Powell crawled out of the wreckage and saw that the fuselage, cockpit, wings and tail section were gone, "just crushed to pieces." He also notified the flight tower that he had five hours of fuel on board, and was given a weather briefing in return. Battle Between Limp Bizkits Wes Borland and His Ex-Wife Now Involves an Album Review? Weve got a gig to do,' remembers Rossington. Nothing was going to stop me from getting help. Steve's sister Cassie, one of the Honkettes - Skynyrd's backing vocalists. Some, understandably, cursed the plane (Odom claims that he rushed the cockpit and hissed, I hope you two sons of bitches live through this, so I can kill both of you!), but most were simply lost in thought as the plane began its 10-minute death glide to the ground. All Rights reserved. They were in a free-fall at 4,500 feet. I remember getting really upset when one of the players ripped the table out of the cabin wall, remembered tour manager Roy Eckerman. Powell pulled off his t-shirt, clamped it over his nose and began trying to help. Wed move one and there would be another one laying there.. "I remember we started clipping those pine trees," Powell said. [1] Pyle told Howard Stern years later in an interview that the fuel gauge in the older-model plane was known to malfunction and the pilots had neglected to check the tanks manually before taking off. The cockpit, tail, and wings completely ripped apart and the remaining cab lay desolate, in the shape of an L. The plane was simply not built well enough to even remotely handle the impact from the pine trees at roughly 90 mph. The Crash Site Was Hauntingly Surreal Marc Frank remembers seeing complete and total despair. The choppers belonged to the Coast Guard, National Guard and Forrest County General Hospital, who were doing their best to ferry people in, and illuminate the crash site. We all hit the dirt thinking, Now were gonna get killed by a redneck farmer! So we all yell, Hey! Less than three hours later the twin-engine would plummet from the sky and into the darkened swamps of Gillsburg, Mississippi, claiming the lives of Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr. But what happened has already happened. Photo: youtube. The list of injuries was extensive. We always wondered why, you know. The surviving members would grapple with this throughout their days. Nearby is a metal stand with neon lights, honoring those who died so long ago. The album cover featured the entire band(except for their background singers) standing together. The band had planned on acquiring a Learjet after arriving in Baton Rouge, to replace the 30-year-old plane, which all in the band's circle agreed was well past its prime. Marc Frank remembers seeing complete and total despair. The Convair, which had served the band relatively well up until that point, began to exhibit serious mechanical malfunctions after takeoff on October 18th. He had been impaled by a part of the fuselage and it pushed through his body and projected out of his back. His nose, he discovered, was now hanging from the side of his face and bleeding profusely. Artimus has had many ups and downs since then, several incarcerations, and a huge falling out with Gary. These are the before and after photos of the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane . It would take hours to remove the bodies of the dead and injured from the plane. Especially Artimus, who had three broken ribs and multiple large cuts. I just walked around trying to help whoever I could. Ten feet above the carnage, Leslie Hawkins and Bill Sykes, a television crewman accompanying the band, were alive but stuck in a tree, with a heavy piece of sheet metal dangling precariously overhead. Gary Rossington (pictured in 2008) recalled that "Allen was real upset. Tom Hill/Getty Images Ronnie Van Zant, a little over a year before the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash that killed him and several members of his band. I remember hearing [bassist] Leon [Wilkeson] screaming, Get me out of here. People that were still in the fuselage were trapped by seats and debris and metal and stuff. UCR. Nothing like that had ever happened to him. The news was met with incredulous expressions of disbelief. Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist and founding member Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpat People were hollerin' and screamin', and I've never witnessed anything before in my life like that." There were a lot of people on the plane that knew something was wrong, but we all kind of followed each other, and thats where we made our mistake.. Some of them went home and got tractors. But the cover of Street Survivors, depicting the group engulfed in flames, took on a grisly significance in the aftermath of the tragedy. That farm belonged to a young dairy farmer named Johnny Mote. Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist and founding member Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, Captain Walter McCreary and First Officer William John Gray all died as a result of the crash, while twenty others survived. Ultimate Classic Rock What Happened to the Survivors of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash? The accident report records that the aircraft was both owned and operated by L & J Company,[1] but the lease to Lynyrd Skynyrd's production company specified that Lynyrd Skynyrd was the operator[1] and therefore was responsible for regulatory compliance (including managing the flight crew). Three members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd died in the impact; however, Cassie Gaines did survive the initial crash but died of excessive bleeding a while afterwards. Meanwhile, according to Billy Powell, "Everybody was just doing their own thing" when the pilots alerted them to the situation. I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought Id write a morbid song, he said three months before the crash. Ronnies mother Marion refused to make the flight, after seeing a horrific plane crash of her own that killed 9 people. [5] The tragedy abruptly halted Lynyrd Skynyrd's career until Van Zant's brother Johnny reformed the band ten years later. ', Exactly how Van Zant spent his last minutes alive is disputed. The wings were torn off along the crash path. Gene Odom had been thrown from the plane and broke his neck, his skin badly burned and one eye blinded by phosphorus from a de-icing flare that had been aboard. He was a good pilot, but he kind of freaked a little bit. Didn't they put enough gas in the tanks?" I spoke with Ronnie a day before [the crash], and he had definitely soured on Rudge, for a lot of things, but the plane was one of em, the bands longtime friend and business associate Alex Hodges told author Mark Ribowsky. The band is currently on atour in North America that ends in Bethel, New York. When I woke up after a few days, there was just a priest and my mama standing there, Rossington says in Lee Ballingers oral history of the band. "[7] Another resident commended the actions of all those who helped, and highlighted that, "Some of them were out on that highway directing traffic. Natural causes were to blame. 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