For many, the name Lynyrd Skynyrd instantly conjures up the day in 1977 when three band members died in a plane crash in the woods of Mississippi. For Lynyrd Skynyrd fans, that day was one of the most tragic in rock history. Here's the truth behind the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash.
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00:00For many, the name Leonard Skynard instantly conjures up the day in 1977
00:06when three band members died in a plane crash in the woods of Mississippi. For
00:11Leonard Skynard fans, that day was one of the most tragic in rock history. Here's
00:15the truth behind the Leonard Skynard plane crash. On October 20th, 1977, Leonard
00:22Skynard was skyrocketing to fame and had several new members on the start of a
00:26three-month tour to promote their new album, Street Survivors. But they weren't
00:31exactly traveling in style. The plane chosen for their tour was an old 1948
00:36Convair 240, a twin-engine prop that had already racked up over 29,000 flight
00:42hours. It was shaky enough that earlier in the year, Aerosmith had decided the
00:47plane was too dangerous to fly in. Still, despite the protests of guitarist Alan
00:52Collins and head of security Gene Odom, Leonard Skynard decided to use it
00:56anyway, with band leader Ronnie Van Zandt reportedly saying just before
01:00boarding, "...if the Lord wants you to die on this plane when it's your time, it's
01:04your time." It would prove tragically prophetic. The plane took off at 4.02 p.m.
01:10from Greenville, South Carolina, heading for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an
01:15estimated arrival time of 6.45 p.m. Pilot Walter McCreary notified the flight
01:21tower that they had roughly five hours of fuel on board, plenty for the flight.
01:25But just a couple hours later, while still over Mississippi, McCreary contacted
01:30the Air Traffic Control Center in Houston, saying they were out of fuel. It
01:34was the last communication from the plane. Band members were playing cards
01:39while Van Zandt napped on the floor when the pilots suddenly alerted them that
01:43they were out of fuel. Drummer Artemis Pyle, a pilot himself, told everyone how
01:47to prepare for the crash, while some reportedly panicked. Most just sat in
01:52silent prayer, hoping for a safe landing. Ten minutes later, the plane went down
01:57in the trees near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Keyboardist Billy Powell told the
02:01Orlando Sentinel, "...I remember we started clipping those pine trees. It felt like
02:06being rolled down a hill in a garbage can and being hit by about a hundred
02:10baseball bats at the same time." The plane then impacted the ground and skidded
02:15another 140 feet. The wings were torn off and the cockpit smashed into a tree,
02:21killing McCreary and his co-pilot William Gray. The fuselage broke off and
02:26the top of the plane tore open, throwing people out. Powell told Rolling Stone,
02:30"...I crashed into a table. People were hit by flying objects all over the plane."
02:35The remains of the plane finally slid to a stop in a swampy, wooded area. Powell crawled
02:41out of the wreckage and saw that the fuselage, cockpit, wings, and tail section
02:46were gone. His nose, he discovered, was now hanging from the side of his face
02:51and bleeding profusely. The musician sat on top of the airplane in shock, crying,
02:55before he heard bassist Leon Wilkinson calling for help.
02:59"...I remember Leon screaming, get me out of here." Pyle also survived the crash, his
03:04ribs, quote, "...sticking out of his chest." Along with roadie Ken Payton, the three
03:10left the crash site seeking help. They found it in the form of local farmer
03:15Johnny Mote, who originally thought the ragged men were escaped convicts, before
03:20realizing the awful truth. He told Rolling Stone, "...one of them was hugging me
03:25around the neck and telling me, we gotta get them out." But there was no help for
03:30Pilots McCreary and Gray, band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie
03:36Gaines, or assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick. All six were killed on impact,
03:41and the 20 survivors were in bad shape, with Rolling Stone reporting that, "...they
03:47endured shattered bones, torn flesh, lengthy hospitalizations, and grueling
03:52rehabilitations." Fans were stunned as images of the crash began playing on
03:58news reports across the world. "...you can't even realize, seeing one of these things
04:02on television, exactly what a crash of this magnitude looks like." Speculation on
04:07the cause of the crash immediately centered on the lack of fuel. "...authorities
04:12still believe the plane ran out of gas, but why? Didn't they put enough gas in
04:17the tanks, or was there a leak?" After a lengthy investigation, the U.S. National
04:22Transportation Safety Board released its official investigation. Nine separate
04:27findings were listed, including statements that both engines on the
04:30plane, "...ceased to produce power because the aircraft's usable fuel was
04:35exhausted," and that the crew, Walter McCreary and William Gray, "...failed to
04:41monitor adequately the fuel flow and route fuel consumption and fuel quantity
04:46gauges, and also didn't take appropriate pre-flight action to ensure an adequate
04:53fuel supply." But their mistakes were apparently compounded by a mechanical
04:57failure that caused one of the engines to burn through fuel much faster than
05:01normal. That would explain why, on another flight two days earlier, Alan
05:05Collins witnessed a 10-foot flame shooting out of the right engine.
05:09Ironically, Pyle told the Orlando Sentinel that during the tragic last
05:14flight, "...the band had decided that going forward, they would only fly on new
05:19planes. We had decided to get a Learjet for the band, a beautiful bus for the
05:24crew. It was ridiculous for us to be on an old plane like that." With the plane
05:29crashed behind them, it would take time for everyone involved with Leonard
05:32Skinner to recover. Five surviving band members, Alan Collins, Billy Powell, Gary
05:38Rosenthal, Leon Wilkerson, and Artemis Pyle, suffered critical injuries from
05:44multiple broken bones to debilitating internal injuries. It looked like the end
05:49of the band forever. Will there be a Leonard Skinner after this? I
05:53don't think so. The first step in the recovery process was changing the album
05:59cover, which originally showed crash victim Steve Gaines surrounded by fire.
06:03But it was a long process, and it wasn't until a decade later, in 1987, that the
06:09surviving members of the band reunited.
06:12The first thing I want to do is bring out the survivors of our plane crash we had
06:17ten years ago. The band reformed, joined by a former guitarist for the group, Ed
06:21King, with Ronnie Van Zandt's brother, Johnny Van Zandt, taking over as lead
06:26singer. But there would still be more tragedies. Collins, who was left
06:31paraplegic after a motorcycle accident in 1986, succumbed to pneumonia in 1990.
06:37Wilkerson was found dead in his hotel room in 2001, and in 2009, Powell died of
06:43a heart attack. That left Rosenthal and Pyle as the only surviving members of
06:48the original band. In October 2019, Ronnie Van Zandt's widow, Judy Van Zandt
06:54Jenis, joined others to dedicate a new monument at the crash site, created with
06:59money from the Leonard Skinnerd Monument Project, which raised over $80,000.
07:04Van Zandt Jenis said,
07:06It's been 42 years today since we lost Ronnie, Steve, Cassie, and Dean. But they
07:12will live on through the music of Leonard Skinnerd and all of the fans
07:16from around the world.