Randy Rhoads Leesburg Crash

Photo Gallery: Guitar World Magazine Covers Through the Years — 1982

And others were simply tragic. Perhaps most significant for the majority of the guitar playing community was the March 19 death of Randy Rhoads. By age 25, Rhoads had written and recorded two albums with Ozzy Osbourne and in that short time elevated himself to the top ranks of the guitar elite.

This Day in Music Spotlight: The Final Flight of Randy Rhoads

Had put Ozzy back in the limelight and the band were in Knoxville for a show at the Civic Coliseum on March 18, 1982. It was Randy Rhoads’ last gig.

After the show, the band left Tennessee for Florida where they were playing a festival in Orlando. Stopping for a rest break and to run some repairs, the caravan stopped at some property in Leesburg, Florida. There were just two houses on the property. One of them belonged to Ozzy’s bus driver, Andrew Aycock.

Early on the 19 , while the entourage was resting, Aycock rose and—being a pilot—took advantage of the property’s airstrip and collection of airplanes. Aycock took keyboard player Don Airey and tour manager Jake Duncan for a flight on a ’55 Beechcraft Bonanza F-35. After that, Aycock took off again, this time with Randy and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood. After that jaunt, Aycock took Rhoads on another flight. It was a terrible mistake.

Aycock took to flying dangerously low, almost at treetop height, and began to buzz the tour buses. He flew past the buses three times, but on the fourth pass, just ten feet or so above the ground, according to the sheriff’s report, “the wing of the plane struck a tour bus, cart-wheeled into a tree and crashed into the roof of the house.” The plane exploded and burned on impact with the house. Rhoads, Youngblood and Aycock died instantly.

Rhoads had to be identified by his jewelry and Aycock through dental records. Toxicology tests declared Rhoads had no drugs or alcohol in his system, just some traces of nicotine. Cocaine was found in Aycock’s urine.

A day later, a devastated Ozzy Osbourne gave a statement to the investigators. “At approximately 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 19, 1982, I was awoken from my sleep by a loud explosion. I immediately thought that we’d hit a vehicle on the road. I got out of the bed, screaming to my fiancée, Sharon, ‘Get off the bus.’ Meanwhile, she was screaming to everyone else to get off the bus. After getting out of the bus, I saw that a plane had crashed. I didn’t know who was on the plane at the time. When we realized that our people were on the plane, I found it very difficult to get assistance from anyone to help. In fact, it took almost a half-hour before anyone arrived. One small fire engine arrived, which appeared to squirt three gallons of water over the inferno. We asked for further assistance, such as telephones, and didn’t receive any further help. In the end, we finally found a telephone and Sharon phoned her father.

Crash

Crash

The last lecture

Crash

Crash!, twisted steel, mangled bumpers & shattered windshields