On February 3, 1959, a small, single-engine, 4-passenger plane took off from a remote airfield in rural Iowa. It was after midnight. It was snowing. It was windy. Moments later, the plane rolled over and flew into the ground at approximately 170mph – or about 275 kph. The 21-year-old pilot and the three passengers were killed on impact. The injuries to all four were horrific. This small crash, on a cold winter night, would reverberate through history – not only to this day, but likely until the end of time. But why? Did the pilot make errors? Was the young pilot in over his head? Was he even qualified? Could the plane’s instruments be blamed? Was the weather to blame? And then there’s this: Was there a gunshot onboard that killed the pilot and took the plane down?
In this episode, the Radar Contact Lost team will examine what happened – I’ll start with the weather, but there were other issues – issues that, on their own, might’ve caused the plane to crash even without the complicating factor of snow, wind and darkness. I’ll also look at the pilot and his qualifications. I'll look at the plane and explain its unflattering reputation. I'll talk to pilots for their perspective. And I'll look at the famous musicians whose bright careers were tragically cut short.
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