Both of which helped the album climb to the No. However, it is believed that the pilots were trying to transfer oil from one engine to another when they accidentally jettisoned the fuel instead. I began the classic guitar lick. I obviously didn't know what I was doing. 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. On October 20, 1977, Cassie Gaines died of non-communicable disease. It was Steve, and me, and Ronnie and I was in the middle of them. It would be another hour before I heard the big news. It was Dr. Hank Lewis, a month shy of 78-years-old. Pilot Walter McCrearey and co-pilot John Grey were killed on impact. Wilkeson cheated death in 1977, surviving a crash of the band's chartered plane. Tangled by underbrush and the 20-foot creek, the rescue team had to act and think fast. The tree where the cockpit came to rest has long-since died. 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. The band buckled in. A Convair CV-240. Circa 1975, Singers Cassie Gaines , Leslie Hawkins and Jo Jo Billingsley of the American rock group, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1970s. We knew every word. At the time of her death she survived by her large extended friends and family. Pyle, Frank, and Peden were met with hostility when they finally came up to Mote. He would eventually succumb to paralytic pneumonia while being treated in a hospital in 1990. Thats when most of the sober members of the band saw that the right propeller was no longer working. The whole scene tore him apart. Marc Frank recalled hearing both engines on the plane then within a matter of minutes, just air passing over the cabin. Photo: thetv.info. Unfortunately, their plane ran short of fuel. 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). Varying accounts have Mote either firing a warning shot into the air or actually shooting Pyle in the shoulder no report is completely reliable. The Vintage News Aerosmith Said No, Lynyrd Skynyrd Said Yes To The Plane. Its many hit songs include "Freebird," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Gimme Three Steps" and "Simple Man.". She was sick and would meet up with the band in Arkansas to continue the tour. At the beginning of the flight, all was well, amid high tensions. In a separate interview, revealing the story of sound man Paul Welch who suffered traumatic injuries in this crash and was sent into a coma, shares that the plane that was utilized during this trip was already catching fire around the engine area and Lynyrd Skynyrd had requested to cease using it. Ronnie Van Zant was just more than the bands main songwriter, frontman, and singer. I had not realized before, but he also was there that night. Steve Gaines - Wikipedia The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. Suffocating the people on the bottom from the sheer weight. Allen Collins, another guitar player for the group, had cracked two vertebrae, and the cut to his right arm was so severe, that it almost required amputation. Some blame it on the planes age and poor design, weighing in on its smaller fuselage and compact wingspan. I was a young graphic artist at the time. Where Did We Find This Stuff? 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. It was there that he struck up a fractured conversation. Marc Frank recalled hearing both engines on the plane then within a matter of minutes, just air passing over the cabin. Killing three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd: Apparently in - thevintagenews The sky is the limit for the talented actress. Billy Powell, the bands keyboardist, received extensive facial lacerations and a broken right knee. 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. But I couldn't stand it any longer. The band was reaching fever pitch with its fans across the South and the nation. Lynyrd Skynyrd reformed in 1987, and has been touring and recording steadily ever since with Johnny Van Zant, brother of the late Ronnie, as lead singer. At this point, for Artimus Pyle, Marc Frank, and Ken Peden, the only sensible thing left to do was to leave certain death at the crash site, for uncertainty in the swamp. Part of the preparations required contacting landowners and securing permission to be there and a guide to lead me in. Two of them were crew members, pilot Walter McReary and co-pilot William Gray, the rest were band members and roadies. Steve Gaines (1949-1977) - Find a Grave Memorial When Aerosmith's crew heard of Skynyrd's misfortune, they were shocked, but not necessarily surprised. He was only 39, but was no rookie. He had been impaled by a part of the fuselage and it pushed through his body and projected out of his back. He had hunted squirrels along that very ridge. Dean Kilpatrick, the bands manager, lay dead and covered in blood. The Tragic Death Of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant - Grunge.com Gary continues on the band with Ronnies brother, Johnny Van Zant, and guitarist Ricky Medlocke. There is some speculation as to why the second engine had ultimately failed. Her mother passed away on 15th February 1979 in a car accident. She was hesitant because she had seen a small fire in one of the engines the previous day. 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. 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. On hearing of the accident, Billingsley was so shaken that some of her hair fell out. Artimus Pyle emerged with several broken ribs, and bleeding everywhere you could. Losing daylight, the pilots desperately looked for an open field or some kind of saving grace. 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. According to a Billboard report, he died of natural causes in his sleep. It is reported that the pilots whose eyes were full of terror, told them to go back to their seats and prepare for impact. You have permission to edit this article. Ronnie Van Zant enjoying a stog before a show. Rescue vehicles on the ground found no direct path in sight. Wilkeson would eventually be found dead in a hotel room in 2001 at age 49. 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. Some of the guys were playing poker. He knew those woods well. We love you!!!" You are already subscribed to our newsletter! Everyone knows him as "Governor." Cassie Gaines Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Collins entered the hospital with pneumonia symptoms and was in a coma the last few days, said longtime friend Ann Thompson. Artimus has had many ups and downs since then, several incarcerations, and a huge falling out with Gary. Lynyrd Skynyrd is a FANDOM Music Community. Powells nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. "I've been coming for years," he said, "and I've never met anyone who was here that night. A medical examiner said on Sunday that Wilkeson suffered from chronic liver and lung disease, and most likely died of natural causes. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Gary continues on the band with Ronnies brother, Johnny Van Zant, and guitarist Ricky Medlocke. 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. Cassie Gaines, a member of the backing vocal trio known as the Honkettes and sister of guitarist Steve Gaines, was so petrified that she nearly squeezed in the band's cramped equipment truck. Before joining the music band, she was an original cast member of a school play under Hairspray. She performed as a backup singer in popular hits such as One More Time and That Smell. I'm from southern Thailand. It was Steve, and me, and Ronnie and I was in the middle of them. ", "There were plenty of old boys standing around here. The band got its name as a way of mocking Leonard Skinner, a gym coach at Robert E. Lee High School known for punishing his long-haired students specifically band co-founders Gary Rossington and Bob Burns. Was there a guest book?". 5 album. The plane had completely disintegrated. He drove down from his home in Oakland, Miss. Photo: Pinterest. she asked me as we talked. Almost as mysteriously, the full bottle is never seen again. Lynyrd Skynyrd did not plan on keeping the plane for long. 2023 Getty Images. Members of the band that survived the crash said that Cassie actually . Martin said she then, "called 911, or 0, or whatever we called back then.". Artimus Pyle and Gary Rossington are the only two members alive today from the crash. Wilkeson cheated death in 1977, surviving a crash of the band's chartered plane. Toxicology tests were also ordered to determine whether there were drugs in his system at the time. Photo: Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader. McDaniel was eager to join me. After I led him to the downtown McComb offices, I returned home, developed my film in a clumsy bathroom darkroom and went to sleep. "He didn't want to talk about it for years.". She was requested to join the band as a backing vocalist. The cover would quickly be changed to a more bland blacked-out background with the band in the same pose after the accident. Collins and other band members were severely injured. Lynyrd Skynyrd pose for a portrait circa 1976. When he was sober, he was a fair and kind person. Their lyrics were raw and fresh - honest and simple. The band regularly has different people sit in and play shows with them like Warren Haynes and Dicky Betts. Don't look like they can afford a ticket. The whole scene tore him apart. Ronnie Van Zant enjoying a stog before a show. Cassie Gaines Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net Worth Collins, 37, suffered respiratory failure, said a Memorial Medical Center spokeswoman. 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. "It was a lot wetter that night. The aircraft crashed in a heavily wooded area during an attempted emergency landing. That farm belonged to a young dairy farmer named Johnny Mote. Powell also claimed that Ronnie Van Zant's head had been smashed. In 1975, his sister, Cassie, whose group had been hired to sing back. Pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray were fully aware of a fuel shortage before the flight took off. Allen Collins kept moving on, eventually getting together with Gary Rossington to form the Rossington Collins Band. It is a cautionary song about drug abuse that fans believed was aimed at one of the members. I marked my calendar and made arrangements. 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. 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. With the tree tops approaching fast and just eight miles short of the air strip, the plane was headed for a Mississippi swamp and nothing could be done to save them now. Steve Gaines was killed instantly upon impact and his sister Cassie Gaines perished as well. As he looked around the scene, his mind went back. Allen Collins, another guitar player for the group, had cracked two vertebrae, and the cut to his right arm was so severe, that it almost required amputation. Birthday: January 9, 1948. Over the ridge, a World War II vintage Willis Jeep crawled down a dusty logging trail. He was more in the image I was pre-visualizing - one of an aging rocker. No one that hit the ground alive died. I'm still not sure why. A costly mistake at 9,000ft or so. The reason behind this? She was famous for being part of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Powells nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. 10 Details About the Fatal Plane Crash that Was the Death of Lynyrd The only thing left was a trail of debris and people. The reason behind this? 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. Billy had taken too long on his intro to the song Free Bird and that didnt set well with Ronnie. Cassie Gaines (1948-1977) - Find a Grave Memorial He smiled broadly and said, "Turn it up! Among them were Lacy Van Zant, Ronnies Father, and .38 Specials Guitarist Dan Barnes. Gabel says he's been to the site 15 or more times. Pianist Billy Powell survived, but his nose was nearly torn off and he suffered severe facial lacerations. Allen's wife would bleed to death due to a miscarriage. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. It sounded great to us. The site is hard to access. 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. "Are you writing a book?" His luck, however, was on the short end of the stick as he would have his throat slit while on the Lynyrd Skynyrd tour bus in the early 90s. 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. I'm really not sure anymore," he said. Violent, wild, and belligerent, Ronnie was a force to be reckoned with. As the Houston Press reports, the crash took Van Zant's life, as well as the lives of band member Steve Gaines and his sister, backup singer Cassie; and Dean Kilpatrick, the assistant road manager. On 20th October 1977, the Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded a chartered Convair CV-240 to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after their performance in Greenville, South Carolina. He had already finished a film about the plane crash when Gary and several others stepped in and placed a lawsuit against the film to not be shown to the public. The albums that followed featured a plain black background. Ronnie Van Zant, drunk and laying in the middle of the aisle, simply pulled himself together, sat up, and quietly chose a seat up front. The Truth Behind Ronnie Van Zant's LAST Ride - Society Of Rock Wilkeson would eventually be found dead in a hotel room in 2001 at age 49. As the three marched on, feet soaking wet from the water, all odds seemed stacked against the trio. The three injured men hiked some distance from the crash site, through swampy woods, and finally flagged down farmer Johnny Mote, who had come to investigate. At the end of the day, Ronnie and the boys are gone and we lost a rock n roll angel on October 20, 1977. Cassie Gaines was a talented and committed backup singer for the Lynard Skynyrd music band until she died in a plane crash. Terror soon engulfed the cabin of the plane and the pilots were frantically trying to radio local Houston Air Traffic Control, stating they had a fuel issue and were most likely going to have to make a emergency landing. Pyle did confirm (from Pyle's interview on the The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio, Feb. 12, 2007) that Van Zant's cause of death was trauma to the head caused by equipment, such as Betamax tapes and Trinitrons, flying forward in the plane's cabin. He didn't know who the victims were. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. In the ensuing chaos, souvenir hunters took billfolds, jewelry, suitcases, band merchandise and even chunks of metal from the crash site. In 1982 he would form the Allen Collins band but shortly after would wreck his new Ford Thunderbird, killing his then girlfriend and paralyzing Collins. The band buckled in. Tragic Details Found In Leon Wilkeson's Autopsy Report - Grunge.com The tour is scheduled to run through mid-September. A plane crash left lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt, lead guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines dead. Truth be known, after 38 years, Martin is a little tired of talking about the whole thing. he said, barely able to get his English to suit his thoughts. Mote was putting out square bales of hay for the cattle when he heard what sounded "like a car crash on a gravel road." On another occasion, while reportedly on a drunken rage, he even slashed the hands of Gary Rossington, his best friend and guitarist, with a broken beer bottle. These combinations of poorly built aircraft and less than acceptable crew quickly led to the dismissal of the band leasing out their services. 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.". So on the prow of this small boat, plowing the coastal water on the other side of the world, he and I abandoned inhibition with an unabashed air guitar jam. 10 Details About the Fatal Plane Crash that Was the Death of Lynyrd Bianca is a force to be reckoned with in the American film industry. As we walked, Easely pointed to a towering pine. Bianca is an American actress. Lead vocalist and founding member of the southern rock band, Ronnie Van Zant, also lost his life in the accident. Any debris left on the ground has long been buried. Making the original release cover more valuable to collectors than the second cover released just a few weeks after the album hit the shelves. Pyle used the couple's phone to call his wife. The singer was approached by artist JoJo Billingsley, sent by the band's head and lead vocalist, Ronnie Van Zant. Things were going so well. 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. Pyle maintains in the Howard Stern interview that the fuel gauge in the older model plane malfunctioned and the pilots had failed to manually check the tanks before taking off. Steve Gaines was killed instantly upon impact and his sister Cassie Gaines perished as well. 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. The album had two notable songs: Whats your name and That Smell. Gary Rossington broke both his arms and both his legs in the crash, and took many months to recuperate. He was a walking treasure trove of names, facts and figures. Owners emphasize that trespassers can be prosecuted. Soon after the plane would begin to jerk and shake violently. Ronnie Van Zant was just more than the bands main songwriter, frontman, and singer. Natural causes were to blame. 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. The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and singer Cassie Gaines were all killed in the crash, and the . Skip to main content. His first band recorded its debut at Sun Recording Studio in Memphis, and later bands included RIO Smokehouse and Rusty Day. Powell's version of events has been discounted by both Artimus Pyle and Judy Van Zant Jenness, who posted the autopsy reports on the band's website in early 1998 in order to set the record straight. A Convair CV-240, similar to the one in the crash. Street Survivors was released just three days before the crash and would quickly become a hit. The rest of the group had no idea at the time that they would never see the face of Ronnie again. Marc Frank, a 24-year-old roadie traveling with the band, noticed what seemed to be fuel spewing from the right engine. The crash killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, as well as pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. She was planning to join the tour in Little Rock on October 23, three days after the crash. Leon Wilkeson, their bass player, had arguably the most harrowing recovery; as he faced many internal injuries, dislodged teeth, and a broken left arm and leg, and his heart stopped twice on the operating table while doctors frantically struggled to keep him alive. Sadly, it would end all to soon. And the hardest-working rock 'n' roll band in America was about to run out of gas. The guys hit the dirt and yelling out with what they had left Hey! 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. The years after the crash would be difficult in its own right for surviving members, most of which would experience tragedy and early death themselves. Tangled by underbrush and the 20-foot creek, the rescue team had to act and think fast. Cassie Gaines was one of the band members who boarded the ill-fated flight. So we came out here and got busy. And it left Teresa Gaines a widow. In the ensuing chaos, souvenir hunters took billfolds, jewelry, suitcases, band merchandise and even chunks of metal from the crash site. Buker had noticed the flight crew passing around liquor bottles while aboard the plane. Ben Gabel, of Denham Springs, is a former surveyor, and navigated to the scene from the official NTSB report, which includes the latitude and longitude. Lynyrd Skynyrd stops for a shot in 1973. I grabbed my camera and jumped in the car. Rudge chartered three planes for loved ones to identify the bodies. All he could think was that they must be from a recent a jailbreak," she said. Thats when most of the sober members of the band saw that the right propeller was no longer working. Remembering Lynyrd Skynyrd's Deadly 1977 Plane Crash ", Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. Powell's nose had been nearly ripped from his face after crashing head first through a table. They all died but we didnt. He suffered a heart attack while on break from tour. One band member, JoJo Billingsly, was not on the flight. Minutes later he was guiding an ambulance through an overgrown trail. 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. Everyone was afraid of riding on this plane. There are just too few physical landmarks. As medical personnel triaged the scene, he helped carry the litters of the injured and the dead across the creek to a waiting 4-wheel-drive pickup truck. Drummer Artimus Pyle crawled out of the plane wreckage with several broken ribs, but was ambulatory, as were road crew members Kenneth Peden Jr. and Mark Frank. I admired his ability to tell gripping stories with his camera, so I began considering a career change. After claiming his deceased son, Lacy Van Zant went to visit the other members of the band at the hospital. The singer died in the arms of the surviving band's keyboardist Billy Powell. Photo: obviousmag.org. I had never seen anything like it before. Collins and other band members were severely injured. Cassie joined the team and became one of the three members of The Honkette's, a female gospel vocal trio of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Cassie Gaines Birthday and Date of Death. From left to right: Allen Collins, Ronnie Van Zant, And Gary Rossington. Lewis was on emergency room call that night at McComb's Southwest Regional Medical Center. He had already finished a film about the plane crash when Gary and several others stepped in and placed a lawsuit against the film to not be shown to the public. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. I'd deal with that later. It was the last flight of Lynyrd Skynyrd: Oct. 20, 1977, the night they . He later caused a controversy by giving a lurid account of Cassie Gaines' final moments on a VH1 Behind The Music special about the band, claiming that the backing singer's throat was cut from ear to ear and that she bled to death in his arms. Headline from a local newspaper reporting the crash. In the beginning, the singer was reluctant to board the aircraft and had already bought another commercial flight ticket. Billy Powell would be in the new starting line-up of Lynyrd Skynyrd until his death in 2009. Mote recalls the first thing he saw was a bloody hand sticking out from the wreckage. But sadly when he drank, which was quite often, his demeanor and character qualities changed drastically. He also knew I had no business there, but his face told me he knew I was beginning a new career that night. Cassie Gaines was born on January 9, 1948 and died on October 20, 1977. One such silent witness has found a way to talk. And then we heard voices. TBS - Movies for Guys Who Like Movies Bumper - The Jerk - 1996, TBS - Dinner & A Movie - Urban Cowboy Promo - 1995, TBS - Movies for Guys Who Like Movies - Running Scared Promo - 1995. Everyone was afraid of riding on this plane. On the original pressing of the cover of Street Survivors was a photograph of the band engulfed in flames. Cassie LaRue Hatfield Gaines (1926-1979) - Find a Crying, praying, and counting the dead to see who they would never hug, play music with, and enjoy company with again. 1977 Plane Crash | Lynyrd Skynyrd | Fandom Laying on the ground, still alive for only a moment, to slowly bleed to death.
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