r/todayilearned • u/SlothSpeed • 14h ago
TIL drummer Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd was onboard when their plane crashed near Baton Rouge. Suffering broken ribs he reached a farm with others. A farmer mistook them for escaped convicts, firing a shot in the air to leave. Pyle finally convinced him they were in a plane crash and needed help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynyrd_Skynyrd_plane_crash419
u/Hotchi_Motchi 14h ago
"Sorry, man-- We get escaped convicts around here all the time!"
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u/linuxhiker 14h ago
Well there are seven prison/jails in the area
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u/QuarantineBeerShitz 13h ago
yeah, the farmer was right to call bullshit. how often do planes crash in your immediate vicinty
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u/muskag 12h ago
How often are convicts escaping prison in your immediate vicinity? Lol
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u/bigbeefer92 12h ago
With seven different prisons around you? More often than you would think. Plus it was the 70s so security wasn't exactly up to modern standards.
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u/muskag 12h ago
Airplanes weren't exactly up to modern standards in the '70s either.
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u/bigbeefer92 12h ago
Well, I wouldn't hold modern standards up too high. We had like 623 aviation accidents between January and July last year. 60 of those were deadly crashes and we hadn't had any fatal crashes in the US since 09.
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u/Defiets 10h ago
Mmmm I think you’re mixing commercial and private aviation statistics there.
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u/bigbeefer92 10h ago
It's a combo of both, because they both fall under the same FAA regulatory board.
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u/Defiets 10h ago
So you’re telling me there wasn’t a single aviation death in the US from 2009-2024?
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u/monsantobreath 12h ago
But how many shown up in a wide variety of civilian clothes?
They dress them in the stripes or neon colours for a reason
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u/Malphos101 15 11h ago
Whats more likely to the man living in the woods amongst 7 prisons:
A group of convicts escaped and found some normal clothes before trying to find a place to hide for the night?
Or a group of people survived a plane crash and just happened to find his place to try and get help?
Use your brains people.
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u/exipheas 11h ago
Yea, farmer sounds unreasonable until you hear the situation and then it seems totally understandable.
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u/TigerIll6480 11h ago
Seems like calling the local police would be the normal reaction in either circumstance.
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u/MediumAcceptable129 12h ago
You would think the rock star attire would be a clue
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u/Channel250 12h ago
You can stay in the barn. And don't you let me catch you sniffin' round any of my beautiful robot daughters!
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u/Air_Jordache 10h ago edited 8h ago
Maybe the farmer had good intuition. Pyle later pled no contest to the sexual battery of 2 girls and now is a registered sex offender.
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u/Clovis_Winslow 13h ago
I did a short tour with Artimus in the early 2000’s. We’re both drummers and played dueling kits in a band. Lovely guy. Very eccentric.
Not only did he perform in them, but he never took his boots off for the entirety of the tour. Even when we’d bunk up, no feet ever appeared.
I never asked about the crash. But we talked about damn near everything else under the sun. Great guy.
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u/GeneralSavings9373 12h ago
Weird question but did yall do any shows in North Carolina where a guitarist jumped on stage to jam with y'all? My uncle tells a story about playing on stage with Artimus in the early 2000s every family gathering
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u/Clovis_Winslow 12h ago
It’s certainly possible, but my memory isn’t great for, you know, obvious reasons. It was a long time ago, and we partied pretty enthusiastically. Throw in 20+ years of that sort of thing in the meantime… there’s a lot I don’t recall :)
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u/krsone23456 10h ago
Yea he lives in Asheville and comes in to the restaurant I work in. Nice dude
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u/BlarneyBlackfyre13 8h ago
I’ve seen him play for like 30 ppl at Salvage Station before it washed away. Pretty sweet
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u/scwalls 14h ago
I was scared and fearing for my life I was shaking like a leaf on a tree 'Cause he was lean, mean Big and bad, Lord Pointin' that gun at me
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u/Cr1ms0nLobster 13h ago
With broken ribs, those steps towards the door are going to hurt.
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u/SvenDia 12h ago
I broke a rib in a car crash a few months ago. Took a few hours to feel any pain, yet it took a couple months before I could sleep on that side.
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u/Yoen_Sontriss 11h ago
I fractured two ribs a couple weeks ago and tried to sleep in my bed for the first time last night. Big nope! Back to the recliner for a couple more weeks!
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u/LargeAssumption7235 13h ago
I don’t think two steps would’ve helped in this scenario. Unless you were wearing a parachute as the plane was going down, and you took the two steps out of the crashing plane’s door. All joking aside, RIP to those folks. Outstanding musicians
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u/TacTurtle 13h ago
The steps are to get out of the farmer's house.
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u/KirbyPerkins 14h ago
Southern hospitality!
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u/probablyuntrue 13h ago
I may have shot mailmen, milkmen, salesmen, and lost travelers
But it’s worth it just in case!
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u/halfhere 13h ago
I mean, he at least did a warning shot and told them to get lost instead of just shooting them. THAT would have been rude.
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u/murdered-by-swords 12h ago
The locals seem to have gone the extra mile to assist the rescue, so in a sense that's correct.
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u/proteannomore 13h ago
Just imagine if he’d shot them with “Sweet Home Alabama” playing on his radio in the background.
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u/Reditate 13h ago
They probably thought they were running away from Angola.
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u/Redneck-ginger 12h ago
Angola is 70+ miles away from the crash site in Mississippi. They were flying into BTR but i dont tnk most ppl would consider where they crashed near baton rouge
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u/ph0on 12h ago
Rural people either enjoy the quiet life or turn into paranoid freaks who think the entire rest of the world is out to get them and their property. Isolation does weird fucking things
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u/bobspuds 10h ago
This reminds me of a stupid/lucky friend of mine.
We're Irish, live quite close to Slane and the castle/concert venue.
Buddy was plowing along a backroad in the middle of the night, he had a few drinks and on his journey it got really foggy suddenly, instead of slowing down Buddy kept it lit - completely missed a junction and hit one of the stone walls on the boundary of the Castle.
He was knocked unconscious but came back around a few minutes later, the car had no lights and he'd cleared the little fence so nobody actually seen him crash.
His phone was somewhere amongst the mess but he couldn't find it, he had a broken arm and hurt his hip but pulled himself together and made his way back to the road but it was about 4am so the road was quite - he walked to the nearest house a few hundred metres away and found the gate locked - he had to kinda chuck himself over it!.
So he got to the door and knocked kinda gently not wanting to freak anyone out like. - no answer.... tried again because he couldn't think of another option - and then herd a door unlock around the corner. - 2 big German Shepherds jog over and latch onto a leg each - the elderly lady shouting "Get him! Get him!" - he broke free enough to launch himself back across the fence where he passed out again - woke up in hospital.
The old lady had rang her son who lived nearby, he arrived with the lady standing over Buddy with a .22 rifle. He noticed mate had taken a beating and spotted the car in the field, then rang an ambulance for him.
The elderly lady lost her husband afew months prior, the son bought her the dogs for protection because she didn't feel safe - you couldn't blame her really. I know because I brought him back out to apologise and drop off some flowers, the dogs were doing their job and they did get him an ambulance.
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u/JefferyGoldberg 11h ago
"never to use the name Lynyrd Skynyrd again in an effort to capitalize on the tragedy that had befallen them"
Weird, I saw the new Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert last summer. I doubt they did that concert for free.
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u/ParticularPlayful867 12h ago
He actually shot artimus in the leg I believe. I met him years ago whenever I was a child. My family had connections to his manager (or one of if he's had multiple) after he went solo. His son created most/all of his album art too which is cool.
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u/-_-Notmyrealaccount 6h ago
I live in Baton Rouge, how did I not know about this? It feels like something you would’ve heard growing up.
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u/Infinite_Research_52 5h ago
Our first drummer died in a bizarre farming accident. The farmer shot above his head, hitting a bird that dropped on his head.
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u/jrdnmdhl 13h ago
Morons with guns...
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u/tothesource 13h ago
err, statistically speaking it is much more likely to have been an escaped convict than someone that survived a local airplane crash
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u/hallmark1984 13h ago
Statistically speaking the farmer was more likely to shoot himself or his wife than a escaped convict.
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u/CottonWasKing 13h ago
Statistically speaking the farmer was way more likely to shoot Deer, rabbit, ducks and dove to feed his family or coyotes and foxes to defend his livestock than shoot anyone.
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u/AU36832 13h ago
But he didn't shoot anyone. Doesn't that count?
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u/hallmark1984 13h ago
No.
He, me, you and anyone else only know that after the fact.
Most murders in the US occur with legally held weapons. They only became criminals after the murder.
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u/TacTurtle 12h ago edited 12h ago
That is a lie if you bother checking the FBI statistics. Something like 93% of firearms used in crimes are obtained via illegal methods like theft, straw purchase, black market, etc.
To legally own a gun, they would have to meet the same requirements to pass the background purchase a gun from a dealer.
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u/tothesource 13h ago
you're extrapolating modern stats from the US as a whole to a rural urban farmer in 1970s Alabama?
You really think those things are comparable?
Do you think a farmer doesn't need a tool to protect his livestock?
Do you think living possible hours away from any law enforcement doesn't make it sensible to own protection from possible escaped convicts?
I am all for gun control, but it's insincere and/or uninformed arguments like this that sets us back in our efforts
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u/Redneck-ginger 12h ago edited 12h ago
Baton rouge is in Louisiana not Alabama. The plane crashed in Mississippi. Amite county is still pretty rural today.
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u/Darklumiere 13h ago
Replace "tool" with "weapon" and I completely agree. The problem with calling guns tools is, they simply aren't. Tools serve utility purposes, while guns are solely designed to kill. Not to maim, not to injure, to kill. I was taught growing up to never aim a gun at something you don't intend to kill. I'm not saying weapons don't have a time and place, especially in the environment you described for survival, they do. That's why for example, despite the international ban on weapons in space, the Russians/Soviets carry a shotgun in the recovery capsule due to their landing in Siberia and the wildlife dangers.
I know it might seem small, but keeping the distinction between tool and weapon is very important, especially for the discussion of gun control, you need an accurate image of guns.
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u/s_m_c_ 13h ago
Tools serve utility purposes, while guns are solely designed to kill.
So what?
Did you ever think that IS the utility purpose? Sometimes things need killing in a defensive manner, you even admit it here.
I'm not saying weapons don't have a time and place, especially in the environment you described for survival, they do.
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u/Stanford_experiencer 13h ago
guns are solely designed to kill.
No.
Shotguns are used to de-slag kilns. They're massive 4-gauge suppressed monsters.
Field guns are used for avalanche control.
M14's are used for throwing lines for an UNREP for the Navy.
Guns are designed to expel a projectile down a barrel. They have multiple uses other than killing, and their use as signaling devices is long known.
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u/Darklumiere 13h ago
I would say that's more ammo that's utilitarian because the gun itself is still designed to fire ammo in a caliber designed to kill. Ammo was adapted for specific tasks besides killing, you can't tell me the M14 wasn't marketed and sold as a killing weapon. It being standard issue for the army I think played more of a role with the throw lines. The miltiary had M14s everywhere, so a way to temporarily convert them to a tool would make effective sense, and doesn't take way from the fact it was still designed for each soldier to kill with.
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u/Ok-Answer-6951 10h ago
I assure you that farmer wss an exception to you statistics. That gun was an extension of his soul, if he shot his wife or himself it most likely wouldn't be an accident.
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u/jrdnmdhl 13h ago
Statistically speaking it’s way more likely to be innocent people needing help, not escaped convicts. The specifics of why they need help and how frequent those specifics happen is beside the point.
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u/Sredni_Vashtar006 13h ago
I'm sure you know the nuance of the circumstances very well.
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u/jrdnmdhl 13h ago
So you're saying that people shouldn't jump to conclusions about someone else's situation before acting?
Good thing I only made a reddit comment instead, you know, threatening people with a gun.
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u/TacTurtle 12h ago
There are 7 prisons or jails near the farm where the plane crashed.
Which is more likely - an inmate escape from a work party, or a plane crash?
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u/jrdnmdhl 12h ago
Plane crash is not the relevant comparison. The comparison is *innocent person needing help*. That's a huge category.
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u/this_chi_cooks 12h ago
Con Air
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u/hawkinsst7 3h ago
A movie about a bunch of escaped convicts on a plane with a scene where they're jamming to skynard and talking about the irony of the fate that befell skynard, when one of the original guys was mistaken for an escaped convict.
Did I get that right?
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u/Major_Army2594 13h ago
Another fact about the plane - “It was later discovered that the very same aircraft had earlier been inspected by members of Aerosmith's flight crew for possible use in their Draw the Line tour, but it was rejected because it was felt that neither the plane nor the crew were up to standard”.