Lynyrd Skynyrd Meets Jimmy Buffett

wiki: Lynyrd Skynyrd aircraft Convair CV-240

Following a performance at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 20, 1977, the Lynyrd Skynyrd band boarded a chartered Convair CV-240 airplane bound for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were scheduled to appear at LSU the following night.

Due to a faulty engine, the Skynyrd aircraft ran low on fuel and the pilots were diverted to the McComb-Pike County Airport. After running out of fuel they attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi.

So, what does Lynyrd Skynyrd have to do with me and my aviation adventures flying the biggest of rock stars in the 70s, 80s and 90s?…

… Well, one year later in late 1978 I delivered an aircraft to the mid-west to pick up Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefers band for their subsequently tours.

For the book I’m building primarily for my kids and grand-kids, my (mystery) brush with Lynyrd Skynyrd took place in the aircraft I personally flew these tours for Buffett…

Keeping in ‘tune’ and relating to a reference of Muscle Shoals and the southern influenced music scene, I have a rather interesting and wacky twist of fate, music story… with a different sort of message.

I grabbed just a few paragraphs from a book I’m currently noodling around with, about some of my flight piloting experiences with entertainers… Here’s a small excerpt from just one chapter…

It was the very end of a 1978 Summer tour with my earliest client, Jimmy Buffett. As you know, he’s also a southern cat, born in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

This was my last flight as his personal pilot. I subsequently continued as private air transportation consultant for him and his Coral Reefers (band) for another ten years (hence).

At that time we were flying a Fairchild F-27 twin engine turbo-prop craft… It was a two pilot ship. For a couple of years at this point, myself and the co-captain had already been piloting Jimmy on all of his tours.

About an hour or so into Jimmy’s flight, we could see some pretty large thunder bumpers ahead of us, over the Gulf of Mexico. Flashes of lightening exploded in that night sky, like the fourth of July over the White House. Yet, we managed to stay clear of most of this weather activity, at a flight level around 23,000 feet. Mostly in and out of light Cumulus cloud layers with light chop (turbulence)…

… Then all hell broke loose!

… Learn more and about The Original Fairchild F-27 ‘Cheeseburger Airplane’

Stories from the Air, Flying Some of the Biggest Rock N’ Roll Stars of the World…