The Left Engine Would Fail, And The Plane Would Glide For Several Thousand Feet
Pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray were fully aware of a fuel shortage before the flight took off. There is some speculation as to why the second engine had ultimately failed. Some blame it on the plane’s age and poor design, weighing in on its smaller fuselage and compact wingspan. However, it is believed that the pilots were trying to transfer oil from one engine to another when they accidentally jettisoned the fuel instead. A costly mistake at 9,000ft or so.
Band members Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell entered the cockpit to get an idea of what was happening. It is reported that the pilots whose eyes were full of terror, told them to go back to their seats and prepare for impact. The band buckled in. Ronnie Van Zant, drunk and laying in the middle of the aisle, simply pulled himself together, sat up, and quietly chose a seat up front. The pilots would have to make an emergency landing. Marc Frank recalled hearing both engines on the plane then within a matter of minutes, just air passing over the cabin.
Losing daylight, the pilots desperately looked for an open field or some kind of saving grace. With the tree tops approaching fast and just eight miles short of the air strip, the plane was headed for a Mississippi swamp and nothing could be done to save them now. The plane finally slammed into the earth, and Billy Powell recalls saying, “We hit the trees at approximately 90 mph. It felt like being hit with baseball bats in a steel garbage can with the lid on. The tail section broke off, the cockpit broke off and buckled underneath, then both wings broke off. The fuselage turned sideways, and everybody was hurled forward.”