Remebering Randy Rhoads, One of The Era's Most Promising Guitarists
On March 19, 1982, 25-year-old Ozzy Osbourne guitarist and former Quiet Riot member Randy Rhoads -- despite having a fear of flying -- was killed in a fiery crash when a joyride in a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane went horribly wrong.
One of the era's most promising young guitarists Randy Rhoads played his last show on Thursday, March 18, 1982, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The next day, the band was heading to a festival in Orlando, Florida.
After driving much of the night, the band had stopped near a small airstrip at Leesburg, Fla., to fix a malfunctioning air conditioning unit on the bus. The tour bus driver Andrew Aycock, talked the band's keyboardist, Don Airey, into taking a test flight in a '55 Beechcraft Bonanza, the joyride ended, and the plane landed safely. Then Aycock took Rhoads and Rachel Youngblood on another flight and attempts were made to "buzz" the tour bus. The left wing clipped the bus, which sent the plane spiraling into a nearby house and bursting into flames. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and were identified by dental records. The victims that perished included Rhoads, as well as Rachel Youngblood, a 58-year-old seamstress and cook for the Osbourne band, and Andrew Aycock, a 36-year-old bus driver with an expired pilot's license.
Ozzy Osbourne recalls his final conversation with Rhoads that night on the bus involved the guitarist admonishing him over his heavy drinking. The last thing Rhoads said to him that night was, "You'll kill yourself, you know? One of these days."
Osbourne later said in a sworn statement. "I was awoken from my sleep by a loud explosion, " immediately thought that we’d hit a vehicle on the road. I got out of bed, screaming to my fiancee Sharon: '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."
Though all were quite distraught, the remaining band and crew members were forced to remain in Leesburg for an additional two days, until preliminary investigations were completed. Rhoads' brother-in-law flew from California to Leesburg to identify what remained of the guitarist's body
Rhoads' longtime girlfriend Jody was in her car when she recalls hearing a block of songs from Blizzard of Ozz on the radio before the DJ announced the accident and the news that Rhoads had been killed. She was too distraught to continue driving.
It was later revealed after an autopsy that Aycock's system tested positive for cocaine. Rhoads' toxicology test revealed only nicotine.
Ozzy Osbourne later said that Aycock had been doing cocaine all night prior to the crash. The NTSB investigation determined that Aycock's medical certificate had expired. It was later learned that Aycock had been the pilot in another fatal crash in the United Arab Emirates six years earlier.
Randy Rhoads' funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank,
California. Pall-bearers at the funeral included Osbourne, Aldridge, Sarzo, and Rhoads' former Quiet Riot bandmate Kevin DuBrow. On his coffin was a photo of the guitarist as well as a photo of himself on stage with Osbourne in San Francisco. Rhoads is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California.
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