Two low flying buzzes was enough...

[Shockwave]

Digging around a bit tonight and the doctor that did the autopsy is now 83 and lives in Camden ME. Been there a couple times as it's about 3hrs away actually. Very rich town and pretty much all multi millionaires

[The Flying Dutchman]

I really wish there was a way to get a little more info on Don Airey being told by an officer that it wasn't an accident. I wonder what the police officers saw that would make them think that. Considering the guy that actually saw it happen thought it was just an accident, which is what I think until evidence shows otherwise.

Well I know some people would say this was no accident as well just by knowing the facts as we all do. They will say: when you try multiple times flying that low above structures (after a whole night without sleep and a little bit cocaine) it's not an accident but just stupidity or suicide. They will refuse to call this even an accident.

Personally I think it's still an accident caused by (severe) misjudgement of the pilot's flying capabilities.

[orion_damage]

I really wish there was a way to get a little more info on Don Airey being told by an officer that it wasn't an accident. I wonder what the police officers saw that would make them think that. Considering the guy that actually saw it happen thought it was just an accident, which is what I think until evidence shows otherwise.

Well I know some people would say this was no accident as well just by knowing the facts as we all do. They will say: when you try multiple times flying that low above structures (after a whole night without sleep and a little bit cocaine) it's not an accident but just stupidity or suicide. They will refuse to call this even an accident.

Personally I think it's still an accident caused by (severe) misjudgement of the pilot's flying capabilities.

Yeah I would definitely agree with you.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

The more info you know takes you away from the actual facts and what happened. It was a tragic accident in the making, regardless of heart attacks, cocaine, pilot error, theories, conspiracies. The final news stories never followed up the news with a headline 'Randy Rhoads wasn't killed in an accident, he was murdered'. If you dig deep you'll change what actually happened. The truth is out there in black n white. X-files or not LOL!!

[TAB]

The more info you know takes you away from the actual facts and what happened.

if you say so..

[GUITARIDOL5682]

Tom it's the mention of "this was 'more' then an accident..." it's never been anything more then that. If it was a death plunge into snuffing out as many people on the ground. Why did the previous flight go smoothly then the tragic accident happened. If anyone made an error it could of been the guys who decided to go on that early morning joy ride. Perhaps $haron O was right to blame Jake Duncan as he was the tour manager and they have to look after the well being of the band. From getting too drunk to being able to get up on stage to play, or doing anything that would jeopardize the bands next gig, it's his job. We can talk and post our opinions but we do get told some facts that are either not true or at best they've come from some one who knows best ???. We have to go off what the eye witnesses seen, not hearsay speculation.

[TAB]

poofters

[Shockwave]

I think all someone needs to do is look at the reproduction photo from one of Dons pics that which is the only photo of his from that morning that has been publicly released. Seeing that photo for the first time again after about 5 years had me come to one conclusion a few days ago....HOLY SHIT!!

Regardless of whether or not that photo is actually from that last final buzz before the crash or one of the prior successful attempts, Aycock was a fucking moron to do that. I remembered that photo as him coming in with the wings horizontal, I pictured a nice straight down decent and then pull back up. That photo indicates he he was cutting in really steep and those friggin wings are almost vertical. That plane is coming in at about a 73-78 degree angle according to what I see in the pic. I don't care if you have a heart condition or not, anyone could have a heart attack because of that. If any of them were standing then I can definitely see a stumble and falling onto either the front passenger or Aycock and hitting the controls. If this is what actually happened it would look Pretty similar to someone trying to help another that is having a heart attack probably. Really if you stumble into some in front of you and your arms fall on them. If someone is having a heart attack your not going to lay them down and start performing chest compressions on a plane, you would probably just console them them and put your hands on there shoulders to comfort them until you land. Both situations would look pretty similar IMO.

The other thing is if that plane was coming in at that steep of an angle and obviously never recovering because the wing hit the bus and was ripped off. It was still flying at least at a 45 degree angle when it hit the bus. Maybe that last buzz just came in more steep than the previous ones and everyone tensed up or grabbed someone and braced for impact Again, just look at that reproduction pic and imagine that plane coming in like that at that speed, it looks to me to be only about 200' away in the pic. I know Don had a telephoto lense but at that point he probably wasn't using it so I doubt the distance was much farther. In about 2 seconds or less that plane is hitting the bus. No time for a "struggle" on the plane as everyone was shitting their drawers just because of how steep he came in.

Any typos, odd sentences or auto corrects my bad, on my phone and not going back to read all that

[Shockwave]

Tom it's the mention of "this was 'more' then an accident..." it's never been anything more then that. If it was a death plunge into snuffing out as many people on the ground. Why did the previous flight go smoothly then the tragic accident happened. If anyone made an error it could of been the guys who decided to go on that early morning joy ride. Perhaps $haron O was right to blame Jake Duncan as he was the tour manager and they have to look after the well being of the band. From getting too drunk to being able to get up on stage to play, or doing anything that would jeopardize the bands next gig, it's his job. We can talk and post our opinions but we do get told some facts that are either not true or at best they've come from some one who knows best ???. We have to go off what the eye witnesses seen, not hearsay speculation.

I don't really care how it happened and I have my thoughts which I have explained already, that's good enough for me. I will still entertain other opinions though as it's an open sided debate and I like discussing the different theories on what happened. No one has a clue what happened unless there are some FAA audio tapes from the cockpit that we are not aware of or something. I just want to find out as much as possible about it because it killed my favorite guitarist. Dons pictures,Randy pictures or the cops investigation photos or whatever...it would just bring closure as to the days events.

One day Don Airey will pass away. His immediate family, grand kids or someone will find those photos and sell or release them. It could be 10,20 or 30+ years until that happens but it will happen no doubt, they are not going to be just thrown away. The more time that passes after Dons departure the less his lineage will care about his wishes or why he never released the photos. This goes the same for whomever he shared the photos with the documentary. The same theory will apply to all Randy hoarders such as the Phoenix brothers footage, if they don't release it then after they are dead someone will.

Surprised though that Don had not released one photo from that Day. Sounds like he had a pretty good quality camera and with it being a nice sunny day the pics are probably pristine looking.

[magicvoice]

I've always wondered why there is no affidavit from Don Airey?...Ozzy, Sharon, Rudy...all who were asleep and didn't even witness it gave one...the guy taking pictures not so much?... And Ive searched the last few hours for that reproduction photo/ sketch of the bus & house but cannot find anywhere now. Could you repost Shockwave?

[TAB]

I've always wondered why there is no affidavit from Don Airey?...Ozzy, Sharon, Rudy...all who were asleep and didn't even witness it gave one...the guy taking pictures not so much?... And Ive searched the last few hours for that reproduction photo/ sketch of the bus & house but cannot find anywhere now. Could you repost Shockwave?

There was a formal investigation by Smalt. Don had to turn over his photos to the offcers. Far as Don's photos when he got them back, Don gave his photos to Delores which Kathy now owns. The reproduction is just a drawing from the photos. Who knows how exact it is until you can compare actual photos. If the photos show the occupants struggling so there is no belief made up or debate about it. The position of the plane was due to her falling on the controls. Though I agree make up your own story what ever works for you and ignore facts that is reality. Bringing up an unrelated analogy of the phx footage just cause I am posting is being a douchebag. Keep smoking more dope maybe it will kill the rest of your braincells. I am out when the moron comments start up.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

No disrespect to you Tom...but i've just seen your post as i was going to post this one up...
Don Airey handed the photos over to Kathy about 2 years ago. As far as i'm aware he has never shown them to anyone apart from the police at the time. You have to respect the guy for one reason only. He witnessed that carnage and seen 3 people tragically die. If you've ever had a situation similar you'd know why he didn't like to show those photos off to anyone but the people who would of been close to Randy. They are the last still moments of his life, so i could imagine them to be very upsetting knowing the out come of his last few minutes alive. Don probably knows the photos would make an exclusive for anyone willing to pay to publish them and thats why he handed them over to Kathy. As far as anyone making the documentary, no one seen them to my knowledge.
Jake Duncan, Don Airey, Tommy Aldridge and Aycocks Mrs all witnessed the crash. But i'm sure the rest of them all got out of that bus pronto when the windows went out. They would of still seen the aftermath and the Hell that was seen when they got off the bus. Even reading Ozzy's interviews at the time, not the later day mixed up stories. He was sincere and told the story like an excited kid but as the story unfolds so does his emotion. Everyone on that day probably lived a living nightmare. Ozzy holds a big degree of guilt for what happened. Times and places and what if some of those guys did not go up in the plane. He always mentions Randy's name with fondness but deep down i bet he rues that day till the day he dies.

[skezza]

Without the photos we will never know. And I don't ever expect Kathy to release them.

They're very protective of Randy.

[Shockwave]

I've always wondered why there is no affidavit from Don Airey?...Ozzy, Sharon, Rudy...all who were asleep and didn't even witness it gave one...the guy taking pictures not so much?... And Ive searched the last few hours for that reproduction photo/ sketch of the bus & house but cannot find anywhere now. Could you repost Shockwave?

There was a formal investigation by Smalt. Don had to turn over his photos to the offcers. Far as Don's photos when he got them back, Don gave his photos to Delores which Kathy now owns. The reproduction is just a drawing from the photos. Who knows how exact it is until you can compare actual photos. If the photos show the occupants struggling so there is no belief made up or debate about it. The position of the plane was due to her falling on the controls. Though I agree make up your own story what ever works for you and ignore facts that is reality. Bringing up an unrelated analogy of the phx footage just cause I am posting is being a douchebag. Keep smoking more dope maybe it will kill the rest of your braincells. I am out when the moron comments start up.

Wow guy, relax ...Wasnt even thinking of you while I was writing that. The only reason I brought that up as a similar comparison to Dons photos is because it puts a name to what supposedly exist out there, unlike other rumors. Haven't smoked anything in 15 years, sounds like some people need to start though.. again, implied nothing towards you, just didn't think of the connection at the time.

If you look at the page we have with the reproduction photo, that is definitely a copy of the actual phoo and not a sketch. . The hand sketching is everything to the right of the photo that includes the tree and bus. You can also see the right side border of the photograph. In the sky of the plane photo you can see the scan marks (poor quality back then obviously). Just looking at the sketches and the photo shows a huge difference in quality, any 10 year old can draw better than that lol. The plane photo has tons of detail and perfect uniformity. If you look at the small tree at the bottom left as well you see a white line cutting the tree in half,along with some or the normal scanning weirdness. All tell tale signs that it wa scanned.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

OK i picked up the RR book by Klein and Rosen last night to refresh what is in that chapter, before i say anything else. If you want to slag the book before reading it, so be it. The book does have some great reading and info and the photos are awesome... (if you can forward that cheque Andrew). Looking at this chapter on the accident i have had my memory refreshed. On the autopsy of Rachel she'd had a heart attack. This was some thing i'd always thought to have been Chinese whispers. Plus Aycock was told before going up with Randy and Rachel to fly sensibly because of her heart condition. So WHY did he decide to fly like a stunt pilot knowing she had a dodgy ticker ?. The young woman who was out on her horse that morning Mary Morrison she said that the people on board could be seen clearly and she could remember the colour of their clothes. So the visibility that day was good enough to recognise the passengers on board. So all the talk of Don not being able to see what was going on inside of the cockpit. The plane was recorded as being as close as 15ft off the ground. But could you see any drama with the plane travelling at speed to notice passengers moviing about etc. Or was this speculation when prompted by the police when interviewed. " did you see if the passengers were seated, standing etc". Plus he'd captured that last swoop towards them with his camera, so it would of been caught in freeze frame. But was this enough to make a conclusion to seeing a slumped Rachel on the controls. Mary Morrison did say in her interview that the plane dipped then assended as it clipped the bus, if it had carried on in that direction the plane would of most definately crashed into the bus.
Mike Smalt was very professional when he arrived on the scene and made the area secure for the arriving emergency services. While accounting for everyones safety and making sure no one was still in the adjoining house. A deaf guy was removed from the kitchen who was drinking coffee and never heard the impact or carnage going on outside. Smalt noticed 2 bodies outside of the building below the window under the remains of the snapped tree and debri. These were Randy and Rachel, another body was on top of the left hand vehicle inside of the garage recognised to be Andy Aycock. At no point does Smalt say this was more then an accident. His theories to how the accident happened are down to the pilots erratic behaviour. This was later explained by Wanda Aycock who was also a fully licened trained pilot. Plus she later goes on to say that she was looking forward to them having a much better life together, so the theory of Andy wanting to snuff her out is ruled out. So the theory is a bit of a mystery to why he was flying in such a crazy mad cap moment. Plus the previous flight was described as a single loop flight round the airport, no mention of swooping the bus etc. Andy landed and taxied up for his next passengers. The mention of watching Pearl Harbour and talking on the bus the night before about kamikaze pilots etc. Was this mentioned to Andy during the flight for him to say ..." What are you requesting Randy, something like this...Woooshhh.. ? !" That could be questioned to his flying antics especially if Rachel was enjoying the flight leading up to this point.
I just realised those colour photos Tom posted up of the firemen looking around the crash site etc are in this book including other pics from the crash. Those pics do bring home the horror of the accident as the flames are snuffed out with lives etc. I still find it hard to think what was going through the guys heads who witnessed this unfolding...Tragic!!.