Jamie Pollard, Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly

[Go2Guy]

Kinda cool trivia - as I watched a news clip of the 60th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death and they showed a brief snip of the autograph wall from Buddy's last performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake; right next to Waylon Jenning's autograph is JP's, from 2006.
PS: Waylon played bass in Buddy's band that night and after the gig gave his airplane seat to Ritchie Valens.


https://whotv.com/2019/02/01/sixty-years-since-the-day-the-music-died-in-clear-lake/

 

[PAClone]

The story I remember seeing is that Waylon didn’t so much give up his seat as lose it to him. Realizing he was going to have to ride in the bus with no heat again, he jokingly told Valens, “I hope your plane crashes”. He carried that guilt for a long time.

 

[CtownCyclone]

The story I remember seeing is that Waylon didn’t so much give up his seat as lose it to him. Realizing he was going to have to ride in the bus with no heat again, he jokingly told Valens, “I hope your plane crashes”. He carried that guilt for a long time.

No, I think Waylon gave it up voluntarily. He was supposed to be on it, but one of the guys was sick, so he let them ride the plane in his place.

 

[PAClone]

Yes, you are right. I do recall that someone was sick. I think he still made the bad joke though.

 

[PAClone]

The really sad thing is it never should have happened. Young, inexperienced pilot, probably pressured to get them to their destination. Never should have taken off in a bad snowstorm. I remember something about the artificial horizon in that plane being different than what he was used to contrbuting to the crash.

 

[burn587]

The really sad thing is it never should have happened. Young, inexperienced pilot, probably pressured to get them to their destination. Never should have taken off in a bad snowstorm. I remember something about the artificial horizon in that plane being different than what he was used to contrbuting to the crash.

There were quite a few things wrong with the lead up to the flight. 1) There was practically no weather briefing and no mention of conditions. 2) The pilot wasn’t qualified to fly only by instruments only and shouldn’t have ever been flying at night. 3) The plane that was chartered had an different style of gauge to show attitude than what he was used to and that displayed in the exact opposite way (ie descending may look like climbing).

Basically that pilot ****** up.

 

[flycy]

There were quite a few things wrong with the lead up to the flight. 1) There was practically no weather briefing and no mention of conditions. 2) The pilot wasn’t qualified to fly only by instruments only and shouldn’t have ever been flying at night. 3) The plane that was chartered had an different style of gauge to show attitude than what he was used to and that displayed in the exact opposite way (ie descending may look like climbing).

Basically that pilot ****** up.

The pilot was a kid(19 I think) who was definitely pressured into the flight. The stories I've heard from my grandparents who knew the family were that he asked a sheriff deputy, who was also a pilot, to take the flight instead. The same deputy who was the first at the crash site. The deputy was wise to refuse to fly. So many musciscians die when they coerce inexperienced pilots to fly in bad conditions or overweight. If they had waited until the next morning everything likely would have been fine, they still would probably beat the bus to Fargo, and we would have never have had American Pie. In the nineties I saw the wreckage which was still in a hanger at the Mason city clear lake airport.

 

[wxman1]

The pilot was a kid(19 I think) who was definitely pressured into the flight. The stories I've heard from my grandparents who knew the family were that he asked a sheriff deputy, who was also a pilot, to take the flight instead. The same deputy who was the first at the crash site. The deputy was wise to refuse to fly. So many musciscians die when they coerce inexperienced pilots to fly in bad conditions or overweight. If they had waited until the next morning everything likely would have been fine, they still would probably beat the bus to Fargo, and we would have never have had American Pie. In the nineties I saw the wreckage which was still in a hanger at the Mason city clear lake airport.

That is kind of interesting...

 

[dinger]

The pilot was a kid(19 I think) who was definitely pressured into the flight. The stories I've heard from my grandparents who knew the family were that he asked a sheriff deputy, who was also a pilot, to take the flight instead. The same deputy who was the first at the crash site. The deputy was wise to refuse to fly. So many musciscians die when they coerce inexperienced pilots to fly in bad conditions or overweight. If they had waited until the next morning everything likely would have been fine, they still would probably beat the bus to Fargo, and we would have never have had American Pie. In the nineties I saw the wreckage which was still in a hanger at the Mason city clear lake airport.

I get your point, but a slight exaggeration.

 

[ca4cy]

Just a few tidbits related to the crash...

Over the weekend a Facebook friend of mine shared an image of the hand written invoice to JP Richardson for the charter flight. $36. Kind of cool and yet really eerie.

2nd, if you've never seen some of the newspaper coverage of the crash, it's a lot different than it would be today. The pictures, while not gory, are pretty graphic in that you can see the covered bodies plainly lying next to the plane wreckage. It definitely gives it a more real feel than just a few pics of the crash site and an article like you'd probably get today.

 

[wxman1]

Just a few tidbits related to the crash...

Over the weekend a Facebook friend of mine shared an image of the hand written invoice to JP Richardson for the charter flight. $36. Kind of cool and yet really eerie.

2nd, if you've never seen some of the newspaper coverage of the crash, it's a lot different than it would be today. The pictures, while not gory, are pretty graphic in that you can see the covered bodies plainly lying next to the plane wreckage. It definitely gives it a more real feel than just a few pics of the crash site and an article like you'd probably get today.

$36?!?!?!?!??!?!

 

[Acylum]

There were quite a few things wrong with the lead up to the flight. 1) There was practically no weather briefing and no mention of conditions. 2) The pilot wasn’t qualified to fly only by instruments only and shouldn’t have ever been flying at night. 3) The plane that was chartered had an different style of gauge to show attitude than what he was used to and that displayed in the exact opposite way (ie descending may look like climbing).

Basically that pilot ****** up.

Stunning how closely this describes the JFK Jr. flight that crashed.

 

[madguy30]

Not gonna post it and it's not terribly gruesome but there are pics of the crash site from the next morning that have all 3 musicians in the fore/background...just really eerie and it being out in the middle of nowhere adds to the mystique.

That event happening on the cusp of some of the big changes in music and society to come along the following decade is interesting.

 

[wxman1]

Stunning how closely this describes the JFK Jr. flight that crashed.

Get-there-itis and the swiss cheese model are very real and is nothing new. Happens with driving too...the consequences are usually just less catastrophic.