When you think of Ozzy Osbourne, you think of him biting the head off a bat, urinating on the Alamo, or even the legendary tour with Motley Crue. There is another incident, however, that wasn’t a wild excess story and damaged the singer and his touring band for the rest of their lives and was all done by someone who wanted to show off. This week The Beat Marches On to 19th March 1982 when Ozzy Osbourne’s bus driver takes a joy ride in an airplane which ends in disaster.
When Randy Rhoads auditioned to be in Ozzy Osbourne’s new solo band, he didn’t even play anything. His guitar warm-up exercises were so impressive that Ozzy hired him there and then. Originally the plan was for the singer to hire an all-British band but when someone comes along with the talent of Rhoads then you can’t pass it up.
It was 1979 and Osbourne had just been fired from the first and biggest heavy metal band Black Sabbath due to being over-excessive with extra-curricular activities. This was pretty rich for a band that recorded songs like Sweet Leaf and Snowblind both songs that were not so subtle odes to cannabis and cocaine respectively.
The former lead singer of Sabbath was now taking drink and drugs to a whole new level to deal with being fired. He had lost everything and was rocketing towards rock bottom. It was all down to the daughter of the band’s manager to get him out of his slump. Her name is Sharon Arden or as she is more commonly known now as Sharon Osbourne.
Sharon helped Ozzy get out of his drunken and drug haze, well enough for him to get out of bed, and start to form a new band together. The original plan was a new band but, in the end, they agreed it would be an Ozzy solo act.
In 1980 the first Ozzy solo album was released, Blizzard of Ozz, which gave us arguably his most famous single Crazy Train, with Rhoads as the guitarist, Bob Daisley on bass and, Lee Kerslake on drums. The album was a huge success and brought Osbourne back into the limelight. The songs were co-written by Ozzy and Rhoads and the fans had found a new guitar hero.
Although the two worked well together, take away the music and they were polar opposites. Osbourne took excesses to the limit and Rhoads’s only vice was cigarettes. However, they worked well as a songwriting team, and one wonders how much bigger they could have been if the tragedy hadn’t happened.
Rhoads was the son of a pair of music teachers, and music was a big part of his life. A classically trained guitarist at age 16 he formed the band Quiet Riot with friends from high school and followed in his parent’s footsteps for a while. He gained an early reputation for his playing abilities and attire, polka dot vests with a bow tie in a pre-glam metal LA was quite a sight. A matching polka dot Flying V guitar to complete the ensemble. By the time of the audition for Ozzy came along Rhoads had left Quiet Riot due to record label frustrations.
In 1982, the relationship between Osbourne and Rhoads was becoming strained. They released another album, Diary of a Madman. Concerned by the excesses of Ozzy, Randy was threatening to quit. Already dismayed by a sudden firing of the rhythm section Kerslake and Daisley and plans to make a live Black Sabbath cover album on one of the tour stops, he was starting to feel distant.
Travelling from Tennessee to the next stop in Florida while on tour, the group had a day off. They had to make a stop in Orlando due to the air conditioning unit not working on the tour bus. The driver, Andrew Aycock, knew the Calhoun brothers, a local tour bus company that also hires small planes and helicopters. The driver stopped at their estate to get the problem fixed on the tour bus.
While waiting for the air con to be fixed, Aycock, who was a qualified pilot, noticed a Beechcraft F35 single-engine plane parked in a hanger. As there was plenty of time to wait for the repairs, he offered some of the road crew and band members to go out for a quick flight. On the first flight, the driver took keyboardist Don Airey and Tour manager Jake Duncan for a couple of circles around the estate. This went off without a hitch.
Aycock then offered to go up again, this time taking Rhoads and crew member Rachel Youngblood, the decision by the guitarist created questions from the crew as it was well known he had a fear of flying. Youngblood wasn’t so sure either as she had a heart condition, but Aycock assured her that he wouldn’t do any tricks. Deciding that it would be a good idea to take some ariel photos for his mother, the guitarist agreed.
They flew over the tour bus a couple of times trying to wake up the sleeping band members in the bus but did this one too many times and the wing clipped the top and lost control spiralling into a garage and exploded killing all three people in the aircraft.
The entourage on the bus didn’t know what was going on until the plane hit the tour bus. As the accident was over in the blink of an eye, by the time they realised what happened the garage and plane were engulfed in flames.
Everyone was sobbing and crying. Jake Duncan dropped down to his knees grabbing his hair, inconsolable. Ozzy went into the adjoining house to get everyone to safety. There was only one person in the house at the time, but it was difficult as the man was deaf and couldn’t understand the singer (and was dressed only in his underwear) Remarkably other than the people on board the aircraft no one else was hurt or injured.
Rhoads’ body could only be identified by his jewellery. The others by their dental records. The band and crew were dismayed. Survivor’s guilt was a constant throughout as a few inches lower the whole tour bus could have been wrecked.
Aycock’s autopsy revealed that cocaine was in his system and others had mentioned he was doing the drug throughout the night before. The pilot’s wife was on the bus which was strange as the two were going through a rough divorce at the time. She lived in Florida and asked for a ride at the last stop. Some have said that he was aiming for his partner just before the accident, but this is just a rumour. Don Airey who was on the first flight, was taking pictures with a telescopic lens has said that he saw Rhoads and Aycock tussling in the cockpit but again this is unconfirmed.
This wasn’t the only time that Aycock was involved in an air crash. Six years earlier in the United Arab Emirates, flying a helicopter this time the pilot crashed and killed one of the passengers. No one knew this on Osbourne’s side until the report from the air investigation team. The investigative team deemed the accident as poor judgment. Rightly blamed Aycock for joyriding the plane.
Ozzy has said he is still haunted by the event. He did delve deeper into drink and drugs after the accident and wanted to quit music altogether. Sharon helped him get himself together and get back on the road. They brought in ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Tourme to fill in for the rest of the tour. However, the incident was never forgotten by the singer nor anyone who was a part of the tour.
Many bands go through crashes on planes or buses. The heavy schedules and excesses within the scene can easily cause accidents. The same type of plane was used on the infamous Buddy Holly crash, the day music died, and country star Jim Reeves in a separate incident. With this evidence, people could blame the plane but this was definitely on Andrew Aycock.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
The Death of Randy Rhoads (ultimateclassicrock.com)
Ozzy Osbourne’s memoir I Am Ozzy was also used for research.
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