re: Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Crash 40 Years Ago Today

It's mind boggling for me to think about all of the great music made between '67 - '77, along with all of the legendary musicians that were in their peak and/or died prematurely.

Skynyrd was before my time but still one of my all-time favorites.

I decided to read about the crash a few months ago. Some of the better known things have already been mentioned, such as Aerosmith wanting to use that plane and the faulty fuel gauge. I also recall that one of the backup singers having premonitions of the crash in the weeks leading up to it.

On the wikipedia site about the crash, it includes 'Another member of the band's trio of back-up singers (collectively known as the "Honkettes"), JoJo Billingsley, was not on the plane; she was home sick and planned to join the tour in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 23. Billingsley said that she had dreamed of the plane crash and begged guitarist/founding member Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using the Convair.

The wiki summary also mentions that '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 Ronnie Van Zant convinced her to board the plane on October 20.'

Great pics Mizz!!!

Glad to see this thread going. I'll go into detail about my visit, on Friday I finally decided to go to the site after years of wanting to go. I drove past it several months ago to locate it, but was apprehensive after reading about the landowners being very protective and there are No Trespassing signs everywhere. I finally said F it and go and take my chances figuring there would be other people there for the 40th anniversary. As I drove around a field I thought would give me the easiest access from my earlier scouting I noticed about a half dozen cars, so I parked and walked to them and heard people talking in the woods closer to the actual crash site. To my amazement people welcomed me, I got to meet two road crew survivors from the plane that were there for closure. They got to meet the first responders who helped them. Quite emotional for everybody. The land owners(and friends) gave everybody stories, insights, and the exact location of where the plane went down. They pointed to a rotted stump that was once a towering tree where supposedly the fuselage came to a rest. Some guests even found a few pieces of the plane(to this day!). I found a small piece of glass, but felt bad taking anything, but after other people were finding stuff I decided I needed something for keepsake. Man I was kicking leaves and rustling under the direct flight path down and didn't find shite. Finally one of the guys jokenly was like "dude give it up" as it was getting dark. Respectfully I obliged. Afterwards they invited me back to Dwain Easley's camp adjacent to the site where he had food, Skynyrd music cranking, and even some large pieces on display(a window). As I greeted him and told him I was honored to be there, he repeated a story that I read from him in an earlier interview that he was very proud that even though the people that died, died on impact before they got there, everybody that was still alive in critical condition, lived thanks to the amazing work that he and first responders did that tragic night (As I had read there were people still in there seats hanging from trees!)
Through the years I have pored over articles, interviews, etc on Skynyrd:
--The plane was shooting out flames from one the engines on their way from Miami(or Lakeland, Fl) to Greenville. After talking each other up, they decided they were going to fly it one last time then ditch the Conair in BR for a Learjet. They were all actually celebrating their last flight on the plane that fateful night. Ronnie was supposedly sleeping in one of the aisleways because of not sleeping much the 2 nights before. Gene Odom had to slap him to wake him and put him in his seat as the plane was going down. As the legend goes you didn't slap RVZ without consequences. Some say Ronnie died on impact hitting a tree, but others say he suffocated as everybody in the front of the plane slammed into one another piled on top of each other. A majority of the survivors were in the back of the plane and it broke off from the front.
--It had been documented by several people closest to him that he had always said he would not make 30 years old and would go out on the road. His age of the crash-29(you cannot make this stuff up)
--Cassie did not want to board and was talked into it by Ronnie as his last words before boarding were "If it's your time, it's your time)
--When the plane was trying to make a crash landing after it had turned back towards McComb, the pilots aimed for Motes field just barely past the woods where it went down. Supposedly they dropped the landing gear too soon which caused the plane's nose to dip and take a nose dive. The crash itself only took place in about 100 yards distance going into the trees at 90 mph. If you look up today you can see some of the older oaks tops in the flight path, the tops are sprouting out differently because of being topped 40 years ago.

If anybody were to go I would recommend on an anniversary as it seems a few people go and pay their respects every year and the landowners are a little more laid back in the access.

Hope y'all enjoy the read. Please forgive me if I misinterpreted anything. Turn It Up!

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I'll go into detail about my visit, on Friday I finally decided to go to the site after years of wanting to go.

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Bro thank you for taking time to share this. It gave me goosebumps reading it.