With the cold weather around West Chester and flying on my mind this week, I'm often thinking to myself when I hear an unseen airplane overhead, "Geeze, who's out flying in this weather? It's definitely zero/zero conditions, I wouldn't fly with all the IFR and deicing fluid and radar in the world." Well, turns out, 50 years ago this week, somebody did decide to fly in some crappy weather, and that was the pilot of a Beechcraft Bonanza B-35 V-tail, and his famous passengers, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Richy Valens, and Buddy Holly.
We all saw "La Bamba" with Lou Diamond Philips, probably fewer of us saw "The Buddy Holly Story" with.....Gary Busey???....(did you know he got nominated for an Academy Award for his role in that movie? Yea, hard to imagine now I know) and we've all....at one time in our lives, when really drunk, stood with arms draped over the shoulders of our best buddies, drinks of Whiskey or Rye in our hands, sang, "The Day the Music Died" by Don McLean. Don't even say you never did....
Anyway...I often wondered about the "decision chain" that lead up to that crash, it's a fascinating thing when analyzing aviation accidents, (which of course doesn't make you morbid, it makes you a better pilot) it's rarely one single catastrophic mistake or failure, but a series of tiny little errors that lead to the big one. We often say to ourselves it can never happen to us, but don't be to sure. Especially if Alcohol is entered into the equation. Watch the first 2:44 of this video, to see what our friends from the Great White North "The Kids in the Hall" think what might have happened that fateful night in Iowa, the day...........the mu......sic.......died
Consider this my blog tip of my hat to Dr Zibbs, who always manages to integrate topical relevance to You Tube videos with biting, satirical comedy that's first rate!
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5 comments:
Andrew, I just gave you a shout out and THEN came over and see that you mentioned me. Thanks.
Good observations on Aircraft Safety, Andy. You weren't the only one thinking it. There's a good interview from NPR's "All Things Considered" with Bruce Landsberg, the executive director of the AOPA, with thoughtful commentary on that pilot's fateful decision process taking up Holly, Valens, and The Bopper.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100209015
Hello Neighbor! I took it upon myself to zip on over here from the doc's place to say hello from a fellow West Chesterian. ( Yah I drink wine sometimes on Friday nights.)
Got tickets for the show at the note for Airborne Toxic? I am so gonna be there if I have to go by myself! Good luck with traffic, Zibbs has all the traffic but I'll stop by again. I gave up on my blog.
Nice blog
bluez
What really interests me about the crash was the flip of the coin type decisions that led to some musicans taking that flight and others taking another flight.
Music could have been radically different, based on the flip of a coin.
The Ox listens to NPR? Really? What's up with that?
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