TwinOtter4Ever From Canada, joined Feb 2008, 213 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 2 months 4 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 8872 times:
Hello all,
While listening to a local radio station the other day, they brought up an interesting trivia bit in regards to a plane/bus collision back on March 19, 1982. Which occurred after the bus driver, Andre Aycock, "borrowed" an aircraft (Beech f35- N567lt) from the Flying Baron Estates private strip in Leesburg, Fl airport and proceeded to buzz and eventually collide (on the last pass, obviously) with the bus killing all aboard the plane including there popular guitarist of the time Randy Rhoads and their hairdresser Rachel Youngblood. The pilot apparently had cocaine in his system, and his pilot license was invalid due to his medical expiring back in '79. Has anyone out there heard much of this?
exerpt (fair use from wikipedia):
"On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida. After driving much of the night, they stopped at the house of Jerry Calhoun, the bus company's owner, in Leesburg, Florida. The driver, Andrew Aycock, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza he had taken without permission. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping.[2] They succeeded two times but the third time it went horribly wrong. The right wing clipped the right side of the tour bus by accident, leading to the crash of the plane into Calhoun's nearby mansion, completely destroying its front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was later determined in an autopsy that Aycock had a trace of cocaine in his system at the time; Rhoads' toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs."
Dacman From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 444 posts, RR: 9 Reply 1, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 8455 times:
Yep, heard lots about it back in 1982, it was a very sad day indeed for the Heavy Metal world. Randy was taking the Metal world by storm with his unique style of guirtar playing and sound much like Eddie Van Halen did in the late 70's. I actually saw the "Diary of a Madman" tour in Los Angeles on New Years Eve 1981 just a few months before the crash and Randy played an awesome set.
It's a shame that someone with a pilots license (even a suspended one) could be so careless when operating a aircraft. A Bonanza is a hot aircraft much more going on than operating a Cessna 150, I wonder if Mr. Aycock had ever flown a Bonanza aircraft prior to this crash, it would be interesting to know.
Technically the story doesn't concern Black Sabbath though.. as Ozzy Osbourne had been kicked out of the band by the time of the accident. Rhandy Rhodes was Ozzy's guitarist when Osbourne started his solo career.
But yes, freak accident, and a terrible loss to Rock and Roll / Heavy Metal...
Thom@s
"If guns don't kill people, people kill people - does that mean toasters don't toast toast, toast toast toast?"
TwinOtter4Ever From Canada, joined Feb 2008, 213 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 8169 times:
Some crazy stuff. It's hard to get away with doing crazy stuff nowadays. Everyone was trying to have their crazy story they could tell. This one backfired. What is it with Guitar legends and plane crashes?
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