The band who almost took Lynyrd Skynyrd’s place on that fatal flight
When we talk about tragedies that befell bands, it’s rare that it ever affects as many members of a given group as the air disaster that killed three members of Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Lynyrd Skynyrd were at the peak of their fame in 1977, having released five acclaimed studio albums and gained notoriety for having produced songs that would go on to define the Southern rock movement, such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Free Bird’. Not only were they well-respected in their lane, but having been invited to tour alongside other giants in the world of rock, such as The Who and maintaining strong relationships with the likes of Neil Young meant that they were constantly in good company.
Unfortunately, while they were embarking on their tour in support of Street Survivors, the band were involved in a fatal plane crash which ended the lives of guitarists Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, the two pilots and their tour manager. The album had only been out for two days when they chartered the plane to take them from South Carolina to Louisiana, but a fuel leakage mid-flight meant that the pilots had to attempt a dangerous emergency landing, which caused them to crash land in a forest in Mississippi.
While it may seem as though this tragic accident was nobody’s fault, there have been several indications that it wasn’t just an issue with the fuel that led to the accident, and that gross neglect on the part of the pilots was to blame for the loss of life and injuries that were caused.
Many suspected that the pilots were under the influence of drugs or alcohol while operating the aircraft, and that they were also suffering from a severe lack of sleep, which hindered their decision-making and prevented them from making all of the necessary checks prior to takeoff. However, toxicology reports showed that neither the pilot nor his co-pilot had been under the influence at the time, and these reports had come courtesy of another figure in the world of rock who had come close to being a passenger.
Instead of it being Lynyrd Skynyrd on the plane, it could so easily have been Aerosmith on board if it weren’t for the decision made by a member of their touring crew to refuse the charter of the aircraft. Harold ‘Zunk’ Buker, who was a close friend of the band and their go-to drug dealer, had asked his father to go and inspect the plane that Lynyrd Skynyrd had ended up on, and according to his reports, his father instructed that they shouldn’t take it due to severe safety concerns.
“The two pilots are smoking and passing an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the cockpit,” Buker revealed in the book, Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith. “The whole thing stank. Dad calls the accountant and tells him to forget it. ‘No way are we going to fly this airplane.’”
While this concern was ultimately not the reason for the crash having taken place, it was evidently fortunate that Aerosmith chose to decline the aircraft that would eventually take the lives of some of their peers.
Had they chosen to board the plane, it could well have been them who suffered the same unfortunate fate, but for Lynyrd Skynyrd, they were sadly the ones who became the victims, and with the loss of three important members of the group, it took them ten years to regroup and find the courage to even return their focus to the band and continue with their careers.
