"I've been coming for years," he said, "and I've never met anyone who was here that night. You are already subscribed to our newsletter! 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.". He lifted one after another and shuffled them to others outside. There is some speculation as to why the second engine had ultimately failed. Wilkeson would eventually be found dead in a hotel room in 2001 at age 49. Freebird, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 10/20/77 and a notebook-sized rebel flag are deeply etched into the old bark. 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. Tremendous physical pain overwhelmed the group as did mental exhaustion. 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. Cassie was 29 years old at the time of death. 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. I would like to think that only one grave robber was involved, but so many items were missing that I have to believe otherwise. It was as if they were back in Noahs time and all but a select few were stricken with greed of mankind and the chance to capitalize on an easy opportunity. Marc Frank, a 24-year-old roadie traveling with the band, noticed what seemed to be fuel spewing from the right engine. 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. It was rumored that it was Ed Kings (original guitar player for Lynyrd Skynyrd) wife but it was not confirmed. She was sick and would meet up with the band in Arkansas to continue the tour. I couldn't stand it. Coincidence? The album cover depicted the band members in an alleyway covered in flames. Through the woods, yet another seeker appeared. Here are 10 facts about Lynyrd Skynyrd and their fateful end. Shining from what seemed to be a small house on a dairy farm. How do they know? The plane finally slammed into the earth, and Billy Powell recalls saying, We hit the trees at approximately 90 mph. What happened to the Menendez brothers' money? The album would reach gold in ten days after release and it would eventually go double platinum. Suffocating the people on the bottom from the sheer weight. It would also be the first album that guitarist Steve Gaines would be the sole guitar player on. Rock Musician. 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 site has drawn visitors over the years. Everyone was afraid of riding on this plane. . On 20th October 1977, the Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded a chartered Convair CV-240 to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after their performance in Greenville, South Carolina. The site is hard to access. Allen Collins kept moving on, eventually getting together with Gary Rossington to form the Rossington Collins Band. Headline from a local newspaper reporting the crash. Marc Frank remembers seeing complete and total despair. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Cassie Gaines was one of the band members who boarded the ill-fated flight. Pilot Walter. I quickly maneuvered free of a crumpled bumper and sped off. 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. Street Survivors became the band's second platinum album, and was the #5 top selling album on the U.S. album chart. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2fad0cc830fa72 There is some speculation as to why the second engine had ultimately failed. Natural causes were to blame. 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. At the end of the day, Ronnie and the boys are gone and we lost a rock n roll angel on October 20, 1977. Updated cover after plane crash, 1977The official NTSB accident report reads, "The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines due to crew inattention to fuel supply. Small and cramped, it still felt better than lift-off of the Convair CV-240. She was famous for being part of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Band members Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell entered the cockpit to get an idea of what was happening. She performed as a backup singer in popular hits such as One More Time and That Smell. In addition to his fractured ribcage, Artimus Pyle was treated for numerous abrasions and contusions. 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 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. Losing daylight, the pilots desperately looked for an open field or some kind of saving grace. The pilots were still in their seats, but were laying upside down in nearby trees. Billy Powell, the bands keyboardist, received extensive facial lacerations and a broken right knee. Here Are Our Sources: Remembering Lynyrd Skynyrds Deadly 1977 Plane Crash, Jordan Runtagh, The Rolling Stones, What Happened To The Surviving Members Of The Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash?, Micheal Cristopher, Ultimate Classic Rock.com, Falling Free Bird: The Truth About The Infamous Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash Is Stranger Than Fiction, Phil Gibbons, Ranker.com, The Joplin Globe Steve and Cassie Gaines to be inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Lynyrd Skynyrd pose for a portrait circa 1976. 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. Especially Artimus, who had three broken ribs and multiple large cuts. Ronnie Van Zant enjoying a stog before a show. But soon, the helicopters that were heard and seen previously were on the scene. "They seemed to be chasing him, trying to flag him down. He rushed to his truck and headed in. "Steve was at the peak of his career. One band member, JoJo Billingsly, was not on the flight. The accident essentially destroyed one of the unique voices of American rock and roll. 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. Rescue vehicles on the ground found no direct path in sight. The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. The plane finally slammed into the earth, and Billy Powell recalls saying, We hit the trees at approximately 90 mph. Don't look like they can afford a ticket. Then on the other side, it was Allen in the middle of Dean and Cassie. 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. Lynyrd Skynyrd is no doubt an American staple in music and southern rock culture. As the three marched on, feet soaking wet from the water, all odds seemed stacked against the trio. But we were both enjoying it. All of the seats were ripped from the frame of the plane, landing in the front section of the crash. The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. I'd deal with that later. Last of the two surviving original member of the band, Gary Rossington, with Johnny Van Zant to his left and guitarist Rickey Medlocke to the right. Pilot Walter McCrearey and co-pilot John Grey were killed on impact. The location sounded familiar so he asked them to repeat. Where Did We Find This Stuff? Photo: hu.wikipedia.com. As the small band of brothers grew, the conversation grew lively but stayed reverent. Be the first to get hottest news from our Editor-in-Chief, Check your email and confirm your subscription. The sky is the limit for the talented actress. Photo: thetv.info. "New Orleans is a southern city. Among them were Lacy Van Zant, Ronnies Father, and .38 Specials Guitarist Dan Barnes. Any debris left on the ground has long been buried. In the ensuing chaos, souvenir hunters took billfolds, jewelry, suitcases, band merchandise and even chunks of metal from the crash site. Stinky! The rest of the group had no idea at the time that they would never see the face of Ronnie again. There have been several different theories as to the culprits of this . 2023 Getty Images. Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash site draws a pilgrimage. Photo: obviousmag.org. 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. Making the original release cover more valuable to collectors than the second cover released just a few weeks after the album hit the shelves. 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. Birth Name: Cassie LaRue Gaines Occupation: Rock Singer Place Of Birth: Missouri Date Of Birth: January 9, 1948 Date Of Death: October 20, 1977 Cause Of Death: N/A Ethnicity: White Nationality: American Cassie Gaines was born on the 9th of January, 1948. Medical personnel arrived and began to ferry out the injured and the dead. MCA Records, out of courtesy, withdrew the sleeve and replaced it with a cover of the band striking a similar pose against a plain black background. "Yes, your right," I said, slightly amused. 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. Allen's wife would bleed to death due to a miscarriage. But sadly when he drank, which was quite often, his demeanor and character qualities changed drastically. It would take hours to remove the bodies of the dead and injured from the plane. 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. As we walked, Easely pointed to a towering pine. The pilots would have to make an emergency landing. It sounded great to us. After I led him to the downtown McComb offices, I returned home, developed my film in a clumsy bathroom darkroom and went to sleep. Laying on the ground, still alive for only a moment, to slowly bleed to death. Collins, 37, suffered respiratory failure, said a Memorial Medical Center spokeswoman. 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.
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