Wings: The terrifying moment Paul McCartney almost died in a helicopter crash
Bonkers conspiracy theories aside, Paul McCartney is still alive and well. There are many who believe he was killed at the height of The Beatles’ popularity as a result of a grisly car accident in 1966, but the daft rumours that surround his faked fate have all been proven to be untrue. The lovable Liverpudlian never passed away, and he wasn’t replaced by a doppelgänger who was somehow just as talented as the real Paul.
That being said, McCartney did almost fall victim to a vehicular tragedy many years later, and while he has lived to tell the tale, the situation that he and his wife, Nancy Shevell, found themselves in 2012 was more than a little dicey. The crisis was luckily averted, and the conspiracy theorists were kept at bay from proclaiming the (second) death of one of rock’s greatest icons.
Modes of transport have caused the deaths of many of music’s greats, and while aviation disasters are possibly a rare way to go out, they’ve taken the lives of several notable artists over the years, with Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper all having been involved in the plane crash on ‘The Day the Music Died’, and other greats such as Otis Redding, Jim Croce and three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd having been killed after taking to the skies.
McCartney will have been acutely aware of how flying in bad weather played a part in many of the aforementioned catastrophes, but he and his wife still chose to board their private helicopter during a spell of fog and heavy rain. Having thrown caution to the wind, the pilot’s attempt to land the chopper at McCartney’s East Sussex estate almost went completely awry and saw them brush the tops of some tree tops close to where the helipad was situated.
Allegedly, the pilot had “become disoriented” due to the adverse weather conditions coming from the heavens, and the poor visibility caused him to lose where he was meant to be landing the helicopter. The Daily Mail would report that the couple “avoided a potentially fatal crash with just a split second to spare when the pilot dramatically lifted the chartered Sikorsky S-76C away from the rain-lashed tree tops” before they managed to successfully reach ground safely at a nearby airfield.
What could have been a tragedy that would have sent shockwaves through the music world was luckily avoided, and the quick thinking of the pilot that allowed the former Beatle to land safely, albeit not at home, was perhaps the most fortunate outcome that could have happened.
However, you have to wonder why you’d build a landing pad so close to a built-up woodland area unless you enjoy living dangerously, and you’ve also got to question why known environmentalist Paul McCartney chooses to travel via helicopter when they’re known for being one of the most polluting methods of getting from A to B. Given how important the far more carbon-friendly option of bus travel has been to McCartney’s career, surely a seat on the top deck is enough excitement for him.
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