How The South Rose Again: The Soaring Flight and Tragic Fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd

THE DAY BEFORE THE SECOND MOST FAMOUS plane crash in rock history, the right engine of the 1948 Convair aircraft carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd backfired over Lakeland, Florida, and a 20 foot tongue of fire shot out of the exhaust. By the time the hired plane reached Greenville, North Carolina, the occupants had agreed to ditch it in Baton Rouge, the next stop on the tour. Back-up singer Cassie Gaines vowed to never set foot on that plane again, and booked herself on a commercial flight to Baton Rouge.