Lynyrd Skynyrd member recalls surviving tragic plane crash

In an interview with Guitar.com, Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington talked about the band’s plane crash in October 1977. The accident took the lives of six of the 20 people on board, including singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines.

Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington said:

“I remember most of it, the rapid descent, the screaming, my friends in pain like something out of Vietnam. Waking up with the plane door on top of me.

“Cassie and Steve died. They were right next to me and Allen [Collins, guitar], yet we didn’t die, so we had unanswered questions as to why them and not us? We all believe in God because we’ve been through so much and yet we carried on.

“The crash has been brought up every day to us, since then. The main thing is we lost our best friends – that’s the hardest part. Our motto when we started was, ‘If we don’t make it we’ll die trying.’ And we made it but at a terrible cost.”

“We are so blessed to have all these chances. We had a second chance to do this and we continued. What else is life about than to live it?

“You’re a fool to not to live your dream. It’s unbelievable people still love our music and come out for us every night. We’re thankful.”