Why did ritchie valens plane crash?

Answer 1

Ritche Valens plane crashed because of two reasons - poor weather and possbily due to pilot error. The pilot was using equipment with which he was unfamiliar - the Sperry Attitude Gyro. The pilot had passed his written examination but had failed an instrument check nine months before the crash. He wasn't given the full weather report by the Air Traffic Communication Station. A combination of poor decision making, unfamiliarity with the instruments and incomplete weather report were responsible for the plane crash. (Info taken from the Civil Aeronautics Board report on the investigation into the cause of the crash.)

Ritchie - RIP.

Answer 2

On February 3, 1959, Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa. He had been recording music for less than a year (La Bamba was released in 1958.)

Answer 3

Enough to kill him

In the documentary "Dancing in the Streets" one of the police officers that was at the scene that night said that it decapitated everyone in the plane - they had flown through high voltage wires that severed the top of the cockpit from the rest of the fuselage, taking everyone's head with it. As was said in the documentary, "We found their bodies still in the plane where it crashed and we found their heads still in and around the cockpit where it landed - they were more than 30 yards apart.

Answer 4

Buddy Holly was on the same small plane with Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (called the Big Bopper). The 21 year old pilot, Roger Peterson, was also killed. This date, February 3, 1959, was called 'the day the music died.'