Tragic Details About The Plane Crash That Killed Reba McEntire's Bandmates

Far more musicians have died in plane crashes than folks might realize. Buddy Holly in 1959, Patsy Cline in 1963, Otis Redding in 1967, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines in 1977, John Denver in 1997, Aaliyah in 2001. These are just some of the artists who've fallen prey to the curse of the skies over the decades. And considering that in 2019, only 289 people died in plane accidents out of 4.5 billion travelers? The amount of musicians killed in plane accidents seems strangely high, indeed.

Even though legendary country singer Reba McEntire never stepped foot onto a doomed plane, she knows about this topic better than most. As she told People in 2022, she "never blamed God" for the death of her seven bandmates and manager in a 1991 plane crash, though she does "have questions when I get up there [to heaven]." McEntire took a different plane on the day her bandmates lost their lives on the same flight: Chris Austin, Paula Evans, Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello, Michael Thomas, Anthony Saputo, Joey Cigainero, and tour manager Jim Hammon.

On Saturday, March 16, 1991 at 1:45 a.m., a small, twin-engine Hawker Siddeley carrying those eight individuals took off from Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego. The plane crashed directly into the nearby Otay Mountain mere minutes later. As the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Body parts and wreckage from the crash were strewn over the snow-capped south side of the mountain." Needless to say, the accident haunts McEntire to this day.

The plane crash carrying Reba McEntire's entire band plus her tour manager made the front page of The San Diego Union-Tribune on March 16, 1991. Called "the worst private plane crash in San Diego County since 1979," the aircraft was headed to Amarillo, Texas when it collided with the side of Otay Mountain at a height of 4,000 feet. Ten people died, which accounts for everyone onboard: band members Chris Austin, Paula Evans, Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello, Michael Thomas, Anthony Saputo, Joey Cigainero, manager Jim Hammon, as well as pilot Don Holms and co-pilot Chris Hollinger.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, McEntire and her band had performed just the night prior in a private show for "IBM executives." Recalling that the flight took to the skies at 1:45 a.m., it stands to reason that the band finished their Friday gig, packed up, and boarded the plane to maybe rest for a bit before refueling in Texas and continuing to their final destination in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The late-night flight and rushed schedule, while not wholly uncommon for touring musicians, might have contributed to the oversight of the pilots, later cited as part of the "probable causes" of the crash, per the Los Angeles Times. In other words: The whole disaster was 100% preventable.

"There's not a whole lot to see," Sergeant Don Fowler said at the time of the crash, per the original San Diego-Union Tribune report.  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson Elly Brekke quoted a North Island Naval Air Station controller who said he saw a "ball of fire" at the moment the small, twin-engine Hawker Siddeley plane disappeared from radar. The crash scorched the nearby terrain and left the side of Otay Mountain full of debris. The aircraft's tail section was the largest chunk of the wreckage to remain intact It flew about 100 yards from the main crash site and was large enough for U.S. Border Patrol to spot from the air via helicopter when they went to investigate along with over 35 other local law enforcement officials. Firefighters got to the scene later to put out small fires scattered here and there over the whole crash site. Coroners and FAA officials arrived after dawn because the area was full of rough terrain and hard to get through. 

As for the bodies of the 10 crash victims, we don't have any details. As the Los Angeles Times quotes George D. Dickason of the San Diego County Medical Examiner, none of the bodies could be identified right away because of "extensive trauma." And as mentioned, officials stated that body parts were scattered over the mountain just like the remnants of the crash itself.

By September 1992 — a year and a half after the crash that killed Reba McEntire's band — the National Transportation Safety Board came to a conclusion about the cause of the crash: pilot Don Holms, co-pilot Chris Hollinger, and an unnamed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee were to blame. In general, per the Los Angeles Times, the crash boiled down to a variety of factors, including, "improper planning/decision by the pilot, the pilot's failure to maintain proper altitude and clearance over mountainous terrain and the co-pilot's failure to adequately monitor the progress of the flight." That, plus poor/inaccurate information the FAA flight service specialist at a nearby tower provided to the pilots. Also, no one was familiar with the area's terrain, the co-pilot was unfamiliar with the plane, it was dark, and the aircraft stayed at low altitude after taking off.

Most critically, the FAA specialist didn't tell the pilots about the mountains in the area. Pilot Don Holms questioned the specialist's instructions, saying that they would steer the plane into a terminal control area (TCA) without clearance. "That's right. Yeah, that's right," the specialist replied. Holms then asked, "So, I would be better off if I headed ... northeast and stayed down, say down below three thousand (feet) ... Do you agree on that?" To this the specialist said, "Yeah. Sure. That'll be fine." That route took the plane directly into Otay Mountain.

Reba McEntire was in her hotel in San Diego, possibly asleep, at the time of the crash that killed her seven bandmates and tour manager. Rather than follow the same schedule as her crew, we can assume she decided to rest up before catching up to them in Fort Wayne, Indiana for their show on Saturday night. McEntire's pilot was at Brown Field Municipal Airport at the time of the accident — the same airport from where the doomed flight left — and called McEntire immediately. The singer left San Diego International Airport sometime between 1 and 2 p.m. that day to head not to Fort Wayne but Nashville to be with the relatives of those who'd died in the crash. Interestingly, there was also a second plane carrying more members of McEntire's tour that took off a mere three minutes after the aircraft that crashed. Those on board that flight only learned about what happened when they stopped at Memphis for fuel. 

By all accounts, McEntire was very close to those who died, and her spokesperson, Jennifer Bohler, told Los Angeles Times that losing them was like "losing part of your family." Bohler echoed these sentiments to The San Diego Union-Tribune. "She is devastated, of course," she said. "Many of them had been with her for several years. Many were like family." Understandably, the show scheduled that Saturday night was canceled.

On March 16, 2020 — the anniversary of the accident — McEntire posted a tribute to her lost friends and bandmates on Instagram. "[Twenty-nine] years ago today, I lost my friends in a plane crash. ... Let's keep finding ways to take care of each other down here on earth and never take one moment with our loved ones for granted." In 2024, she once again posted a tribute on Instagram and quoted one of her own songs, "For My Broken Heart," from the album of same name released in 1991, the same year as the crash. A line of lyrics in the post simply reads, "I guess the world ain't gonna stop ... for my broken heart."

Those aren't the only times McEntire has spoken up about the accident over the years. Each time, she expressed her shock in the moment and her persistent grief in the present. In 2022, for instance, she told People, "I didn't know if I was going to be able to continue. But it [the crash] showed me how precious life is." Taste of Country cites one of the first times McEntire opened up completely about the tragedy in an interview with Oprah. When describing what happened, she broke down. "I'm sorry — it's been 20 years, but it's just like — I don't guess it ever quits hurting," she said.

[Featured image by Angela George via Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Cropped and scaled]