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Keyboard player Billy Powell's nose was nearly torn off in the crash as he suffered severe facial lacerations and deep lacerations to his right leg.

The sound got louder and louder until Rossington was knocked unconscious he awoke some time later on the ground with the plane's door on top of him. Guitarist Gary Rossington recalls hearing what sounded like hundreds of baseball bats hitting the plane's fuselage as it began striking trees. With the gravity of the situation clear, the passengers sat in silence, some praying.

At some point the passengers became aware that something was wrong, and drummer Artimus Pyle recalls entering the flight deck and being told by a terrified pilot Walter McCreary to go back and strap himself in. Several other passengers passed the time by playing cards. Despite their efforts, at approximately 6:52 pm the plane skimmed about 100 yards (91 m) along the top of the tree line before smashing into a large tree and splitting into pieces near Gillsburg, Mississippi.Įarly in the flight, witnesses recall that lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant was lying on the floor with a pillow, having been up most of the previous night and being in need of sleep. As a last resort, they attempted an emergency landing in an open field about 300 yards (270 m) from where the plane eventually went down. Upon realizing that the plane had insufficient fuel, the pilots attempted to navigate to McComb Airport, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the eventual crash site in Amite County, Mississippi, but soon realized that the plane would not make it. The plane ran out of fuel near the end of the flight.

On October 20, 1977, three days after releasing their album Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, and boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University.