Did I Save My Father's Life? The Lynyrd Skynyrd Tragedy

On October 20, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd's chartered Convair 240 crashed in Mississippi after running out of fuel, killing six people, including three band members and both pilots. But what most people don't know is that my father, Jim White, was the chief pilot for Falcon Aviation and had been flying Lynyrd Skynyrd on their tour. Just days before the crash, he left to be home for my birth. I was born October 18, two days before the accident and on October 20, the day I was originally due to be born, the airplane crashed. My dad always believed that if he'd remained the captain, the crash would never have happened. In this Podcast, I share personal family photographs, my father's original Lynyrd Skynyrd tour badge, and stories about the pilots who died. We also examine the official NTSB investigation, the airplane's mechanical problems, the fuel calculations leading up to the crash, and why my father disagreed with parts of the investigation. We even discuss the story of how Aerosmith nearly chartered the same airplane. So I've spent my life wondering: Did my birth save my father's life? Or could his presence in the cockpit have prevented one of rock music's greatest tragedies? #LynyrdSkynyrd #PlaneCrash #FlyingDoodles