The plane had completely disintegrated. "They stopped, straight back there," he said, and pointed to the tree line a quarter mile across open hay fields and woods. Through the woods, yet another seeker appeared. "It was the saddest thing," she recalls, 11 years later. Lewis was on emergency room call that night at McComb's Southwest Regional Medical Center. However, other band members convinced her otherwise. I quickly maneuvered free of a crumpled bumper and sped off. It was rumored that it was Ed Kings (original guitar player for Lynyrd Skynyrd) wife but it was not confirmed. Ronnie Van Zant enjoying a stog before a show. Rescue vehicles on the ground found no direct path in sight. The whole scene tore him apart. It wasn't a Cessna; it was a Convair CV 240, a twin engine, 40-passenger plane that was down in heavy woods near Gillsburg. Circa 1975, Singers Cassie Gaines , Leslie Hawkins and Jo Jo Billingsley of the American rock group, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1970s. I'd deal with that later. A little after an hour of trudging through a creek and at one point burrowing underneath a barbed wire fence they found themselves staring at a small, dim light in the distance. They all died but we didnt. It was Steve, and me, and Ronnie and I was in the middle of them. The will to carry on was strong, however, Pyle being a US Marine, would live out the phrase Semper Fidelis which means always faithful. "But using a phone out here is worthless," he said, and even with his expertise, he had trouble finding the exact spot of the crash site. Lynyrd Skynyrd was known for their hard-rocking style, driven by powerful guitars. In the beginning, the singer was reluctant to board the aircraft and had already bought another commercial flight ticket. Powell's nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. A towering beech tree stands sentinel on the west side of the creek, carefully carved with scores of knurled epithets. Artimus Pyle, drummer for the band, stops for a quick picture while en route to the next show. The crash killed singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. He was known as Papa Ronnie. "The first thing I saw was a bloody hand reaching out from the debris. Some blame it on the planes age and poor design, weighing in on its smaller fuselage and compact wingspan. Mother of Lynyrd Skynyrd members Cassie Gaines and Steve Gaines. Powell's nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. He obtained his first guitar at about age 14. Everyone on the flight, except for Ronnie Van Zant, was feeling uneasy and restless. Over the weekend, the message boards on the official Web site were flooded with messages of lament for the "living legend," "free bird," and simple man.". ", "I expected to see all dead people looking at these woods. She was brought up in Miami, Florida, alongside her brothers, Bob and Steve. We had to cross a black water slew," he said. I obviously didn't know what I was doing. Pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray were fully aware of a fuel shortage before the flight took off. I couldn't stand it. It was there that he struck up a fractured conversation. 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 official report of the crash read: "The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines that the probable cause of this accident was fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines due to crew inattention to the fuel supply. The only thing left was a trail of debris and people. Pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray were fully aware of a fuel shortage before the flight took off. On one occasion after a show, he approached Billy Powell who was the bands keyboard player, and punched him so hard in the mouth he knocked his two front teeth out. "Folks were all mashed together. Everyone just stood there helpless. Since Cassie was not aware of the band's existence at that time, Jojo offered her a copy of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first two albums to make her acquainted with the band's work. The album would reach gold in ten days after release and it would eventually go double platinum. According to a Billboard report, he died of natural causes in his sleep. Allen Collins suffered two cracked vertebrae in his neck, and both Collins and Leon Wilkeson nearly had arms amputated as a result of crash injuries. Despite this faux pas, Powell has been on good terms with the remaining band members since the incident. In 1986, his car ran off a road and crashed into a culvert, paralyzing him from the waist down and killing his girlfriend. The location sounded familiar so he asked them to repeat. The crash killed singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. I didn't know where this was going. Four of the passengers were killed including bandleader and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines and assistant tour manager Dean Kilpatrick. An old high school friend, Bobby McDaniel, posted a photo and a comment about a name-carved tree from the crash site. In addition to his fractured ribcage, Artimus Pyle was treated for numerous abrasions and contusions. Totaled, decimated, and left for dead. With a newly-released album, "Street Survivors," they were flying from a concert in Greenville, S.C. to the next night's show at LSU in Baton Rouge in a substandard charter plane. Assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, the pilot, and co-pilot Walter McCreary and William Gray also died. Ronnie had died instantly upon impact, his head slamming into a tree. I had not realized before, but he also was there that night. 5 spot, it was the bands first No. Mote hopped into his pick-up to get back to his house, told his wife to get back in the house, then proceeded to grab his gun and stand guard. Deceased people hanging from trees, the other survivors moaning for help of any kind, and completely surrounded by a black swamp whose canopy is blocking the only light that is trying so desperately to shine through. Dean Kilpatrick, the bands manager, lay dead and covered in blood. I dont know who you think we are but we were on a plane and the plane crashed out there on the other side of that cow pasture. Mote instantly connected the dots to the sound he heard earlier and the men that lay before him. On one occasion after a show, he approached Billy Powell who was the bands keyboard player, and punched him so hard in the mouth he knocked his two front teeth out. Gary Rossington broke both his arms and both his legs in the crash, and took many months to recuperate. It felt like being hit with baseball bats in a steel garbage can with the lid on. However, they were apparently talked into using it just one more time which happened to be their last ride. Most of the 20 survivors were taken to Southwest Regional Medical Center in McComb, where the lobby had been transformed into a makeshift emergency treatment center to quickly deal with the onslaught of plane crash victims. She performed as a backup singer in popular hits such as One More Time and That Smell. The talented singer met her death at the young age of 29. Wilkeson would play in both Rossington Collins Band and the Allen Collins band. Here are 10 facts about Lynyrd Skynyrd and their fateful end. Marc Frank remembers seeing complete and total despair. He, like me, was 21-years-old at the time. He had been impaled by a part of the fuselage and it pushed through his body and projected out of his back. Billy had taken too long on his intro to the song Free Bird and that didnt set well with Ronnie. Billy Powell, the bands keyboardist, received extensive facial lacerations and a broken right knee. Among them were Lacy Van Zant, Ronnies Father, and .38 Specials Guitarist Dan Barnes. Allen Collins kept moving on, eventually getting together with Gary Rossington to form the Rossington Collins Band. The band leased a new Convair CV-240 to help them get between shows easier. We just had released an album that went gold almost overnight. Freebird, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 10/20/77 and a notebook-sized rebel flag are deeply etched into the old bark. In 1995, while on assignment in Phunket Thailand for the Times-Picayune's series "Oceans of Trouble," I boarded a small fantail fishing boat on the edges of the Andaman Sea with writer John McQuaid to photograph the disappearing mangroves. The other band members Collins, Gary Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Artimus Pyle, and Hawkins, tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew suffered . She was sick and would meet up with the band in Arkansas to continue the tour. The rest of the group had no idea at the time that they would never see the face of Ronnie again. Some of the guys were playing poker. 2023 Getty Images. Over the ridge, a World War II vintage Willis Jeep crawled down a dusty logging trail. ", "And everybody says they were the first one there. Posted and no trespassing signs are prominently displayed. "I was well prepared with advanced trauma life support training," he said, "and (I was) a flight surgeon in the military. Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded after the airplane tragedy. The tour is scheduled to run through mid-September. Original cover for Street Survivors, 1977Notably, the third member of The Honkettes, JoJo Billingsley, was not on the plane and in fact was home tending to a family member's illness. Losing daylight, the pilots desperately looked for an open field or some kind of saving grace. But as my wife and I watched the news bulletins flash on TV, it was a big deal. Where Did We Find This Stuff? I began the classic guitar lick. It was rumored that it was Ed Kings (original guitar player for Lynyrd Skynyrd) wife but it was not confirmed. A chartered Convair 240, N55VM, carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed near a forest in McComb, Mississippi. The fuselage turned sideways, and everybody was hurled forward.. Billy Powell would be in the new starting line-up of Lynyrd Skynyrd until his death in 2009. For members Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, the weight of what happened seemed to push down on them the most. Before joining the music band, she was an original cast member of a school play under Hairspray. Contributing to the fuel exhaustion were inadequate flight planning and an engine malfunction of undetermined nature in the engine which resulted in higher than normal fuel consumption.". There were 24 passengers and two crew members aboard the aircraft. From the commercial hits of Free Bird and Simple Man to less mainstream songs like The Needle And The Spoon and T Is For Texas, Lynyrd Skynyrd and their driving southern sound quickly cut their way to the top of the charts and into the hearts of many across the states and around the world. Leslie Hawkins sustained a concussion, broke her neck in three places and had severe facial lacerations. He was a walking treasure trove of names, facts and figures. The band regularly has different people sit in and play shows with them like Warren Haynes and Dicky Betts. Cassie Gaines mother was LaRue, while her father was Bud. Powell's nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. He also knew I had no business there, but his face told me he knew I was beginning a new career that night. Brenda Martin, 17 at the time, lived with her husband, Johnny Mote (now divorced) in their mobile home on the north side of the crash site. He knew those woods well. As soon as it seemed that the worst of the flight was passing, the true nightmare was about to set in for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the crew aboard. The plane killed three band members (Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie, Steve Gaines) and Dean Kilpatrick (assistant road manager), Walter McCreary (pilot), and William Gray (co-pilot). Two of them were crew members, pilot Walter McReary and co-pilot William Gray, the rest were band members and roadies. Musician. For another crash scene veteran, this was also his first return visit in 38 years. According to an interview in the book Freebirds, Billingsley had dreamed of the plane crash and begged Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using the Convair. She was hesitant because she had seen a small fire in one of the engines the previous day. Allen Collins kept moving on, eventually getting together with Gary Rossington to form the Rossington Collins Band. Steve Gaines was killed instantly upon impact and his sister Cassie Gaines perished as well. Cassie Gaines, Steve Gainess sister who were both bound for death in the crash, would routinely ride on the equipment bus rather than the plane. "Sweet Home Alabama" became the southern anthem for millions. Band members Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell entered the cockpit to get an idea of what was happening. Powell also claimed that Ronnie Van Zant's head had been smashed. Wilkeson cheated death in 1977, surviving a crash of the band's chartered plane. The band would be marked for strife as just before their inaugural tour, Allens wife would bleed to death due to a miscarriage. These combinations of poorly built aircraft and less than acceptable crew quickly led to the dismissal of the band leasing out their services. As the three marched on, feet soaking wet from the water, all odds seemed stacked against the trio. Get the news that matters from one of the leading news sites in Ghana, UN development chief sounds alarm over debt distress, Texas: Wind and solar stake claim to land of oil, Couple loses GH 300,000 on their wedding after guests don't show up: "So heartbroken", "Rest Well": Thomas Partey pays tribute to Christian Atsu as she scores in Arsenal's 3-2 win over Bournemouth, Hard guy dey cry: Sulley Muntari sheds tears at Christian Atsu's 1-week observance, Richard Kingston consoles him in sad video, 150+ Sad messages: ideas to express your deepest feelings in 2022, What happened to Jade Castrinos after Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, List of American foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner that you will love, 80+ Juice WRLD's quotes and lyrics about love, life, success and heartbreak. In 1977, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Stevie Gaines and Gaines sister, Cassie Gaines, were killed in a plane crash. He remembered seeing bodies everywhere. Gabel says he's been to the site 15 or more times. A costly mistake at 9,000ft or so. So, we're both southerners.". Pyle used the couple's phone to call his wife. With my camera at the ready, the translator and I stood watch on the prow of the brightly colored wooden boat as we plowed the exotic coastline. What injuries did Cassie Gaines die from? As we talked, we heard a racket through the trees. I used my camera in my work. Gary Rossington, one of the bands guitar players, had suffered two broken arms, a broken leg, a punctured stomach and liver. Tangled by underbrush and the 20-foot creek, the rescue team had to act and think fast. At least one member, background singer Cassie Gaines, had refused to board the flight, but was convinced against her better judgment. She is famous for starring in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Goode Behavior, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. It was the last flight of Lynyrd Skynyrd: Oct. 20, 1977, the night they . The reason is that just a few short days before some of the band members had reported seeing sparks a large as 10ft shooting out of the right engine. The aircraft was destroyed by impact; there was no fire. Another 20 were injured, which included keyboardist Billy Powell, guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, drummer Artimus Pyle and bassist Leon Wilkeson. In 1977, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Stevie Gaines and Gaines' sister, Cassie Gaines, were killed in a plane crash. We always wondered why, you know. The surviving members would grapple with this throughout their days. While the site is duly remembered, it is on private property and is not open to the public. The albums that followed featured a plain black background. She was planning to join the tour in Little Rock on October 23, three days after the crash. Collins recovered and began performing again, eventually forming the Allen Collins Band. Mote recalls the first thing he saw was a bloody hand sticking out from the wreckage. The only thing left was a trail of debris and people. The band enjoyed national fame in the 1970s with such hits as Gimme Three Steps and Sweet Home Alabama.. Lynyrd Skynyrd pose for a portrait circa 1976. That now legendary and near-mythical plane crash killed Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Honkettes backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant tour manager Dean Kilpatrick and the pilot and co-p And then we heard voices. Allen Collins, who lost fellow members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1977 plane crash and was paralyzed four years ago in a drunken driving accident, died Tuesday of pneumonia. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Cassie Gaines was born on January 9, 1948 and died on October 20, 1977. It is reported that the pilots whose eyes were full of terror, told them to go back to their seats and prepare for impact. The single "What's Your Name" reached #13 on the single airplay charts in January of 1978. But we were both enjoying it. Lynyrd Skynyrd is a staple on rock, classic rock, and southern radio stations. Cassie Gaines Birthday and Date of Death. Leon Wilkeson and Billy Powell would both go on to pursue other musical ventures and both have a hand in several Lynyrd Skynyrd re-boots. Gene Odom, Lynyrd Skynyrds bodyguard, recalls: They took my watch, my wallet, my ring, and my money as I lay bleeding on the ground. It was going to be the replacement for Douglas C3s with a pressurized cabin that was then just being mandated as a rule for commercial airlines. Losing daylight, the pilots desperately looked for an open field or some kind of saving grace. Aerosmiths management passed on the opportunity to call this plane their own. Photo: hu.wikipedia.com. How do they know? Billy Powell would be in the new starting line-up of Lynyrd Skynyrd until his death in 2009. All reality had been broken and none of the surviving members would ever be the same or view life the same again. The fuselage turned sideways, and everybody was hurled forward.. (Photo by Ted Jackson). Photo: Pinterest. A Convair CV-240, similar to the one in the crash. All he could think was that they must be from a recent a jailbreak," she said. One such silent witness has found a way to talk. Marc Frank was beaten terribly and was also covered in lacerations and blood. It would take hours to remove the bodies of the dead and injured from the plane. There is some speculation as to why the second engine had ultimately failed. Bianca is a force to be reckoned with in the American film industry. Band members Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell entered the cockpit to get an idea of what was happening. Artimus Pyle and Gary Rossington are the only two members alive today from the crash. Especially with the song That Smell. Skip to main content. It was suggested on the VH-1 Behind The Music profile on Skynyrd that this was the case, or that the pilots, panicking when the right engine failed, accidentally dumped the remaining fuel. 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. But not all had the intentions of lending a helping hand. He suffered a heart attack while on break from tour. With the dust settled from a plane crash that would make a small Mississippi town famous, everything that surrounded the few conscious and able survivors were completely horrific and getting darker by the second. Governor said, "I'm bad about leaving an empty beer bottle and a full one for Ronnie and the boys" each year. The site has drawn visitors over the years. Pyle, Frank, and Peden were met with hostility when they finally came up to Mote. The site is hard to access. That farm belonged to a young dairy farmer named Johnny Mote. Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, Kilpatrick and the pilots were laid in a temporary morgue at a local high school gymnasium. The events before the plane crash are perhaps the most bone-chilling ones you'd ever hear. Shining from what seemed to be a small house on a dairy farm. A tragic scene no person would ever wish to see or soon forget. If you look closely, Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines (2 of 3 band members to die in the crash) are completely engulfed in flames, whereas the rest of the band is merely standing around in the streets of fire. All reality had been broken and none of the surviving members would ever be the same or view life the same again. Cassie Gaines was a talented and committed backup singer for the Lynard Skynyrd music band until she died in a plane crash. The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. You have permission to edit this article. Laying on the ground, still alive for only a moment, to slowly bleed to death. As the small band of brothers grew, the conversation grew lively but stayed reverent. Deceased people hanging from trees, the other survivors moaning for help of any kind, and completely surrounded by a black swamp whose canopy is blocking the only light that is trying so desperately to shine through. Then on the other side, it was Allen in the middle of Dean and Cassie. Thats when most of the sober members of the band saw that the right propeller was no longer working. Among them were Lacy Van Zant, Ronnies Father, and .38 Specials Guitarist Dan Barnes. It Crashed, Killing 3 Members, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Drinking, Fighting, Hell-Raising: The Classic Skynyrd Lineup In Pittsburgh, Associate Press Mississippi Road Signs For Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash Site, Hollywood Reporter Appeals Court Reverses Ban on Lynyrd Skynyrd Movie, Ronnie Van Zant Of Lynyrd Skynyrd Predicted His Own Death, Groove History, 1977 Missippi Convair CV-240 Plane Crash, Wikipedia, History Collection The Deadliest Plane Crash in Canada Killed 248 Soldiers in 1985, History Collection A Plane Crashed into the Empire State Building (1945). I admired his ability to tell gripping stories with his camera, so I began considering a career change. The other two members were JoJo Billingsley and Leslie Hawkins. All of the seats were ripped from the frame of the plane, landing in the front section of the crash. The plane was produced from 1947-1954. Artimus Pyle was also notoriously outspoken against the plane and on several occasions would take buses to shows. Toxicology tests were also ordered to determine whether there were drugs in his system at the time. I had never seen anything like it before. Pilot Walter McCrearey and co-pilot John Grey were killed on impact. Home; Memorials; Cemeteries; Famous; Contribute; Register; Sign In; Register; Sign In; . Totaled, decimated, and left for dead. Both Steve and Cassie Gaines were killed in the crash. He was more in the image I was pre-visualizing - one of an aging rocker. Everyone on the flight, except for Ronnie Van Zant, was feeling uneasy and restless. Tremendous physical pain overwhelmed the group as did mental exhaustion. Photo: thetv.info. He then assembled a convoy of trucks and four-wheelers to locate the crash site and rescue the survivors. The band has asked that fans wishing to remember Wilkeson do so through the Musician's Assistance Program, which assists musicians and industry professionals seeking treatment for addiction. Minutes later he was guiding an ambulance through an overgrown trail. The album cover depicted the band members in an alleyway covered in flames. According to Powell, Cassie Gaines' final moments were particularly painful as she bled to death in his arms and that her throat had been cut from ear to ear, which gave more indications of execution than an accident. July 30, 2001 -- Leon Wilkeson, bass player and founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, is dead at age 49. Several members of the band died in a plane crash that occurred on October 20, 1977, three days after the release of Street Survivors. Lynyrd Skynyrd stops for a shot in 1973. Wilkeson suffered severe internal injuries, including a punctured lung, and had most of his teeth knocked out.
Tippecanoe County Jail Mugshots,
Best Ac Unit For 3000 Square Foot House,
Is Laura Rutledge Still Married,
Warren Brothers Net Worth,
Boston Federal Court Sentencing,
Articles C
