The 1959 plane crash that ended three rock legends' lives, and the pilot's decision that still haunts

The Beechcraft Bonanza lifted off from Mason City Municipal Airport at approximately 12:55 AM on February 3, 1959.

Snow fell. The sky was overcast.

Aboard were three rock and roll musicians — Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and a third performer — and the pilot, who was not certified to fly by instruments alone.

The plane carried limited instrumentation for a night like this.

It went down in a cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa, around 1:00 AM.

The wreckage was discovered the next morning by the plane's owner, Dwyer Flying Service.

The pilot's lack of an instrument rating would become central to the investigation.

The plane's gyroscope and attitude indicator were later found in questionable condition, though the CAB report noted the instruments were not necessarily defective.

What the pilot knew before he took off — how much he saw of the snow, how much he trusted the gauges — is not fully in the record.

The exact sequence of events inside the cockpit in the minutes before the crash is not established.

Not because no one asked. Because no one survived to answer.

The plane departed at approximately 12:55 AM.

It was found hours later, scattered over a large area.

Four men were gone.

One decision, made in bad weather, carried them into that cornfield.

The Civil Aeronautics Board would later determine the probable cause was "the pilot's unwise decision to embark on a flight which would require instrument flying, for which he was not qualified."

That finding came in September 1959.

But at 12:55 AM, none of that was known.

Only the snow, the overcast sky, and a small plane climbing into the dark.

THE WINTER DANCE PARTY

The Surf Ballroom was warm that night.

Three of the musicians who had just played there — Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and another performer — climbed into a car for the short ride to Mason City Municipal Airport.

The ballroom's owner drove them himself.

He watched the plane take off into the snowy, overcast sky.

The plane was a 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza, operated by Dwyer Flying Service of Mason City.

The tour's other performers, including Dion DiMucci and Dion and the Belmonts, stayed on the bus.

They traveled by road.

The musicians who flew did not.

The specific reasons they chose the plane over the bus are not detailed in the source.

It was a small plane, built for one pilot and a few passengers.

It was cold outside, and the snow was falling.

The warmth of the ballroom was behind them.

The dark was ahead.

THE INVESTIGATION

The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the crash.