The Details Behind the Plane Crash that Shook the Country

Don McLean’s song “American Pie” was about the day the music stopped, February 3, 1959; the day Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens perished in a horrific late night plane crash outside Mason City, a few miles from their departure city, Clear Lake, IA.

All this week we’ll look at the lesser known details of the crash, its aftermath, and the contributions each made in their brief time here on earth.

Today let’s focus on the crash itself…

Buddy wasn’t originally scheduled to be a passenger on the ill-fated plane, rather on the tour bus. The bus had broken down multiple times during the tour, so it was Buddy who chartered a plane so he could get more sleep.

The pilot was an inexperienced Roger Peterson, who threw caution to the wind and took off in inclement weather. Sadly, although he had a few hours of instrument training, he was not ‘solely instrument certified’ at the time. This proved to be a fatal decision.

J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson was also beset by tragic circumstances, as he and Waylon Jennings had a coin toss for the seat, which the Big Bopper won.

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