Experts reveal what caused Buddy Holly’s plane to crash 65 years ago today

Nypost.com ^ | 02/03/2024 | Hillary Andrews

[Bonemaker]

So many sing about “the day that music died” on Feb. 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash.

Don McLean coined the term in his 1971 hit “American Pie.”

[Bonemaker]

The Day the Music Died. Kind of true. Take away: believe your instrunents.

[DIRTYSECRET]

What difference at this point does it make?

[ought-six]

The kid flying the plane was not qualified in instrument flight.

[Antihero101607]

The plane was vaxxed, I knew it!

[dfwgator]

Must have been a Boeing.

[Jeff Chandler]

Free basing. Holly was a pioneer.

[P8riot]

The pilot wasn't instrument rated. He shouldn't have even been flying in that weather.

The Last Flight of Nine Four November

[Chode]

so what was it???

[Thank You Rush]

“”What difference at this point does it make?””

Oh! Dear - I just finished an email to an old and I mean OLD, high school friend and she asked me why we spend so much time trying to find out who died and when! IOW what difference does any of it mean?

I had to say, “I really don’t know.” Except the information is so easy to find on the internet...We live far apart from one another and I guess it’s one way to stay in touch with the old home town...She’s there and I’m not; both widows and we enjoy staying in touch but~~~~~~~~~~!!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I read the autobio of Dion DiMucci of Dion and the Belmonts who was on that tour. He said the people in charge of that tour were complete morons. They gave them school buses meant for delivering school kids locally and used it to tour half the northern country in the dead of winter. And these were the buses that have a single heater by the driver. It got so cold their drummer had to be hospitalized for frost bite, plus he said the bus would constantly break down.

To me that’s what killed them, they would have never taken that plane if they had a tour planned by pros. My theory is they had no respect for rock and rollers back then, they saw them as stupid kids and easy marks to rip off. Ritchie Valens was only 17,

[SaveFerris]

I thought it had iced wings and was in a snowstorm

I saw pictures of the crash - yikes 😳

[verum ago]

so what was it???

The same as what the Civil Air Board determined in 1959:

The Board determines that the probably cause of this accident was the pilot’s unwise decision to embark on a flight which would necessitate flying solely by instruments when he was not properly certificated or qualified to do so. Contributing factors were serious deficiencies in the weather briefing, and the pilot’s unfamiliarity with the instrument which determines the attitude of the aircraft.

There's no new information in this article, despite the the clickbait title implying something new. The pilot made the horrendous decision to fly in conditions at night that would require him to navigate by instruments alone, which he was not qualified to do. He subsequently flew the plane into the ground.

[God luvs America]

Not qualified to fly a plane???? The more things change....

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Now I understand what Hitlery meant when she said that. What she was really saying was "What difference at this point does it make? I know I will never be charged with a crime because I'm above the law" They wouldn't even charge the bitch with criminal neglect

[telescope115]

There is a great documentary, The Day The Music Died, In which Don McClean relates his journey into writing the iconic song and what inspired him. I highly recommend it.

[citizen]

Gravity

[TexasGator]

“What difference at this point does it make?”

All I saw has been public knowledge for decades.

[Fiji Hill]

I have always wondered why some of the hottest acts in the pop music world were traveling long distances on unheated buses through the upper Midwest in the middle of winter. One would think they would have had enough money to fly on private planes wherever they wanted to go.

[Thank You Rush]

Thanks for that. I printed it for later reading. Found out this week that a 1978 Cessna 152 had crashed that my husband and I bought from one of our flying club members. He was the original owner and told me the plane had crashed years ago in weather ignored by the pilot.

We had it on our flight line and sold it when we left CA. Talked to the guy we bought it from and he said it had crashed in Julian, CA - WEATHER related - no survivors...the pilot had rented it from a flight operation at Gillespie Field in San Diego....Weather gets everyone if they aren’t paying attention and that pilot obviously didn’t. The old saying is - “There are old pilots and bold pilots but no old bold pilots.”

No one needs to be reminded about the helicopter crash that Kobe Bryant and his daughter and others were killed in - more ignored weather!!! It was 4 years ago this January that happened - it was covered last week on “How It Happened.” Lessons for everyone if they’d only listen!
My husband flew for nearly 50 years both military and general aviation and instructing - a stickler for SAFETY!

[Thank You Rush]

“”They wouldn’t even charge the bitch with criminal neglect””

Or bad acting!!!