Touring is one of the most gruelling things in the music industry. You’re on the road for weeks or months at a time, in a different venue every day and sometimes you don’t know where you are. The bigger you get you could be in a different country every day. The hectic schedule, however, can take a toll on the band, road crew or even the equipment. When the equipment fails it usually ends in disaster especially when it’s the machinery that you’re travelling in. Unfortunately, today’s story is one of those stories. This week, for the Fiftieth time The Beat Marches On to 25th October 1977 when Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant’s funeral takes place.
The Convair CV240 was on its last flight. Lynyrd Skynyrd was going to trade in for an upgrade on the 30-year-old aircraft once they arrived in Baton Rouge. The tragedy was they never did. Aerosmith already rejected the plane. Allegedly the band’s director of flight operations caught the pilots smoking and passing around a bottle of Tennessee’s finest Bourbon.
Lynyrd Skynyrd was promoting their fifth album, Street Survivors. The band were one of the most popular in 1977 with hits like ‘Freebird’ and the southern anthem ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ they weren’t quite up the top but were on their way. The current album was released three days before the aircraft went down and would become the quickest-selling to date.
The reason why the band couldn’t fly on chartered flights anymore was due to their reputation. They were rowdy. They liked their alcohol and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant wasn’t the biggest fan of flying and got boisterous after a few drinks. When the two mixed it added up to one thing: Carnage.
When airlines started banning them from flights, they requested their manager (Peter Rudge) to have their own private plane. Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones had them, why can’t Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Rudge got them a plane, at a discount, but as the troupe of managers screwing over bands for themselves (as happens ninety per cent of the time) he wasn’t brave enough to board the aircraft himself. He decided to meet them at the next venue flying first class. By reports this cost just as much as he paid to hire the Convair.
No one felt confident flying in a plane that was past its prime. Many band members felt safer cramped in with the equipment van than flying in that death trap. Two days before the fateful crash the right-side engine was on fire mid-flight to Lakeland, South Carolina. If anyone wasn’t concerned before this, they were now. When told about this the pilot, Walter McCreary, and co-pilot, William Gray, insisted it was fine but said they would have a mechanic check it when they get to Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, that was too late.
Upon leaving Lakeland the band and their entourage had to be persuaded to go on the flight by Van Zant. While they were hesitant to board the singer was quite confident that everything would be okay. As he was the band’s leader they all followed suit and joined him on the plane. At 5:03 pm the plane took off from South Carolina only for tragedy to strike less than two hours after take-off.
The flight started as routine, despite all the issues two days before. The passengers decided to throw a farewell party on the plane as it was the final time. Complaining of back problems Ronnie Van Zant went to the front of the aircraft as it was the only space where he could stretch out, backing singer Leslie Hawkins helped massage his back.
Suddenly over the Mississippi/Louisiana border trouble started with the right-hand side engine again. This time it was bad. Real bad. It had stopped completely. Even though McCreary and Gary refuelled in Greenland, the fuel gauges said they were empty. The pilot radioed Houston air traffic control centre for a mayday call for an emergency landing but the closest airport was 17 miles in the opposite direction.
As McCreary was going to turn around the left engine failed. Then the Convair started to descend. According to those aboard, there was silence as the aircraft was free-falling out of the sky. Everyone strapped into their seats and prayed for mercy.
Desperately looking for some open space to land was the only thing the flight crew could do and try to guide the plane down. All they could see were trees. Then a gap appeared, McCreary put it into landing mode which released the wheels. Unfortunately, the aircraft was too close to the trees and as the wheels dropped down it clipped the top of them and veered the aircraft into the forest. Billy Powell, the Keyboardist, said ‘Then there was a sound like someone was hitting the plane outside with a thousand baseball bats’ to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1977.
The plane ripped through the forest for about 500 feet before it came to a complete stop. The fuselage was on its side. The cockpit was upside down. The tail had ripped off. Bits of the Convair had become entangled with the trees. No one would come out of this unscathed. There were people in trees, entangled with ripped metal and even upside down.
Anyone conscious went to get some help. Three members of the entourage journeyed out, drummer Artimus Pyle, sound engineer Ken Peden, and roadie Marc Frank. It was now night and you couldn’t see your nose in front of your face. They saw a light in the distance and headed towards it.
The light belonged to dairy farmer Johnny Mote who mistook the three for escaped convicts from the local prison and pointed a gun at them. The farmer heard the bang from the plane crash and assumed that It was a breakout attempt.
After explaining the situation the farmer gathered his neighbours and anyone else he knew and assembled a convoy of pickups and four-wheelers to help look for anyone who was a survivor in the wreckage. A lot of these had massive fog lights mounted and it wasn’t until they shined a light that they could see what damage had been done.
The authorities were called and three helicopters were sent out from the National Guard, Coast Guard and Forest County Local Hospital. The reception for the hospital had to be turned into a makeshift ER due to the number of people needing beds. Due to the severity of the accident, the band didn’t tell anyone of the status of the other members.
Six people died on the flight. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, Guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and backing singer Cassie Gaines, the pilot and co-pilot Walter McCreary and William Gray and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick. Many think that if Van Zant was in his normal seat without the back problems it is presumed he would’ve survived. The pilots were found stuck in the cockpit hanging upside down. Most of the deaths were presumed instant other than Cassie’s who bled out.
It took a couple of days for the media to catch wind of the crash. The area was so remote that people didn’t realize that the band hadn’t arrived in Baton Rouge until the day of the concert. In a press conference, Billy Powell, the least injured of the survivors, was asked if the band would carry on. His reply was ‘I don’t think so’
Upon hearing the news Gaines’s widow, Teresa, sent a request to Skynyrd’s record label, MCA, to change the cover of Street Survivors which had the band engulfed in flames. They obliged and changed it to the band in front of a black background.
It took a while to determine what caused the crash, the state of the wreckage and its location were the main factors of the delay. There was not a definitive cause for the accident as in those days flight recorders weren’t required by law. It wasn’t until 1978 that the investigation report was released to the public. It said the probable cause was fuel exhaustion and a total loss of power. The right engine was in an ‘Auto-Rich’ mode which burned more fuel than usual. The consensus was the pilots were at fault.
The band however haven’t put the blame on anyone. They didn’t want to open old wounds and relive the past. If they were to blame anyone, they blame themselves for getting on the aircraft after knowing the risk of what had happened just a couple of days prior.
It took a while for the band’s wounds to heal. Physically and mentally. Trying to come to terms with the scars some vowed never to play music again, and others turned to drugs and alcohol. Ten years later in 1987 remaining members reunited to play in tribute to the members lost. Ronnie’s younger brother Johnny took over singing duties and they started to tour. Then they were recording new material together and were back as a band again. Not all previous band members liked the new version and called it a tribute band.
The band continued until 2021 when the last original member of the band, lead guitarist Gary Rossington was too ill to tour anymore. They released nine studio albums and eleven live albums including the tribute concert that reformed the band.
Thankfully disasters like this one are rare. It’s always a shame when these things happen but we need to be reminded so that hopefully repeats can be avoided. Also, to remember and pay tribute to those who tragically lost their lives so we don’t forget their legacy.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for four 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 Truth Behind The Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash (grunge.com)
Remembering Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Plane Crash, Ronnie Van Zant – Rolling Stone
There is a documentary available on streaming service Amazon Prime Video called Gone With the Wind (it is behind a paywall)
If you want to request a story for The Beat Marches On blog, then you can contact jwhiteheadjournalism@gmail.com. We cannot guarantee that the story will be published but will be considered