Does anyone know the real reason why his plane crash was never really investigated? For those of us who watched The Bar-Kays episode of "Unsung" on TVOne, there was a little insight as the sole survivor of the crash, trumpeter Ben Cauley, recalled that the pilot mentioned something about a low battery before they took off. Yet it seems there was no "official" investigation as far as the cause of the crash. Why was this so?

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...is_redding

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...e_Bar-Kays

[Edited 7/13/10 12:57pm]

I just don't know why the hell you would get on a plane when you know it had a low battery and more importantly, why the pilot was flying that plane in the condition it was in to begin with

scriptgirl said:

I just don't know why the hell you would get on a plane when you know it had a low battery and more importantly, why the pilot was flying that plane in the condition it was in to begin with

Well I can see why they were flying in such a hurry because they were actually on a tour or something and back then, the priorities for making it from city to city weren't very realistic. Money was on the table and so to meet those dates you had to pick up and go whether you liked it or not, but at the same time, it is quite mind boggling that even though the word was out there about the low battery that they still boarded it anyway. I assume in situations like that, that all the trust is put into the pilot's hands. So if the pilot decides to fly the plane anyway through bad weather and a low battery, then he must know what he's doing right? Not necessarily so, but I'm just saying, those thoughts were most likely what was running through their minds.

I found that odd that the plane was low on fuel/battery but they took off anyways. They couldn't have been in that much of a rush unless the schedule made changing fuel difficult. It does sound suspicious though.

Something was wrong in the state of Denmark. Were wrongful death suits every brought against the airline?

Timmy84 said:

I found that odd that the plane was low on fuel/battery but they took off anyways. They couldn't have been in that much of a rush unless the schedule made changing fuel difficult. It does sound suspicious though.

Exactly my point! I find it very odd how every other plane crash involving some kind of celebrity has been investigated, but out of all of them, when I read about this one, there isn't much information at all regarding if anyone actually found out the cause of why the plane went down. Even wiki states that a indepth investigation wasn't conducted. So why was that? It's almost as if, "yeah the plane went down, it was unfortunate, next."

missfee said:

Timmy84 said:

I found that odd that the plane was low on fuel/battery but they took off anyways. They couldn't have been in that much of a rush unless the schedule made changing fuel difficult. It does sound suspicious though.

Exactly my point! I find it very odd how every other plane crash involving some kind of celebrity has been investigated, but out of all of them, when I read about this one, there isn't much information at all regarding if anyone actually found out the cause of why the plane went down. Even wiki states that a indepth investigation wasn't conducted. So why was that? It's almost as if, "yeah the plane went down, it was unfortunate, next."

Maybe it was the times IDK... I mean it was 1967, right in the middle of the civil rights movement. They might've not want any investigation, which is real unfortunate. That's kinda how they treated Sam Cooke's death. They didn't really care because "another n****r gone". I hate to make it seem like it was racist attitudes but back then, it wouldn't have surprised me. And then we have to go with who hired whoever they hired to bring eight people on a little jet and then decided to go ahead and fly come hell or high water, fuck a fuel change. Very suspicious...

Did Otis have a big life insurance policy?

Did y'all know James Brown sold him that plane (the plane was Otis' own personell plane.) JB actually told him it was in bad consition.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Did y'all know James Brown sold him that plane (the plane was Otis' own personell plane.) JB actually told him it was in bad consition.

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

Wow, so Otis was kind of responsible for his own death.

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Did y'all know James Brown sold him that plane (the plane was Otis' own personell plane.) JB actually told him it was in bad consition.

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Thanks.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Did y'all know James Brown sold him that plane (the plane was Otis' own personell plane.) JB actually told him it was in bad consition.

I had heard something about this before. But if JB told him it was in bad condition, then why did Otis buy it? I guess he might had been planning on fixing it up..or maybe he did fix it and unbeknowingst to him, there was still work needed to be done???? We'll never know the answers I guess.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Thanks for this article...it provided a little more information than what I had previously found before.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Wow, Otis was only 26 when he passed? I never realised he was so young, for a young man he sounds so...weary?

Timmy84 said:

missfee said:

Exactly my point! I find it very odd how every other plane crash involving some kind of celebrity has been investigated, but out of all of them, when I read about this one, there isn't much information at all regarding if anyone actually found out the cause of why the plane went down. Even wiki states that a indepth investigation wasn't conducted. So why was that? It's almost as if, "yeah the plane went down, it was unfortunate, next."

Maybe it was the times IDK... I mean it was 1967, right in the middle of the civil rights movement. They might've not want any investigation, which is real unfortunate. That's kinda how they treated Sam Cooke's death. They didn't really care because "another n****r gone". I hate to make it seem like it was racist attitudes but back then, it wouldn't have surprised me. And then we have to go with who hired whoever they hired to bring eight people on a little jet and then decided to go ahead and fly come hell or high water, fuck a fuel change. Very suspicious...

Sorry to take it off topic...but I agree with what you said about Sam's death, it was very suspicious, more so then Otis'. Etta James said the injuries he sustained were too great to be explained by the shooter's account of what happened. Seems like the real cause of his death has never was never given any oppurtunity to be discussed in court. Part of me thinks the jury were just dazzled by the lie detector results without really understanding how unreliable they are.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

I remember either you or someone else mention that. I wonder why Otis didn't take James' word that the plane was in bad condition.

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Wow so Otis was warned to postpone the trip beforehand due to the weather

but he was committed to honoring his engagement.

phunkdaddy said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Wow so Otis was warned to postpone the trip beforehand due to the weather

but he was committed to honoring his engagement.

Yeah it seems Otis was gonna do what he was gonna do come hell or high water and unfortunately for him that attitude led to his unfortunate, avoidable death. It didn't make sense that he should be taken away from this earth at just 26.

I'm guessing they believed that the cause of the plane crash was truly an accident, and at the time they didn't have the forensic capability to really figure out what happenned. Unless there was suspicion that someone did it deliberately, I'm not sure why they would investigate.

Sam Cooke's shooting is a whole other thing though.

AshK said:

Timmy84 said:

Maybe it was the times IDK... I mean it was 1967, right in the middle of the civil rights movement. They might've not want any investigation, which is real unfortunate. That's kinda how they treated Sam Cooke's death. They didn't really care because "another n****r gone". I hate to make it seem like it was racist attitudes but back then, it wouldn't have surprised me. And then we have to go with who hired whoever they hired to bring eight people on a little jet and then decided to go ahead and fly come hell or high water, fuck a fuel change. Very suspicious...

Sorry to take it off topic...but I agree with what you said about Sam's death, it was very suspicious, more so then Otis'. Etta James said the injuries he sustained were too great to be explained by the shooter's account of what happened. Seems like the real cause of his death has never was never given any oppurtunity to be discussed in court. Part of me thinks the jury were just dazzled by the lie detector results without really understanding how unreliable they are.

Yeah it's weird how they just bypassed it. Obviously some wrongdoing was done but I doubt it was because of what they claimed Sam was doing, which when you think about it, was beneath him.

bobzilla77 said:

I'm guessing they believed that the cause of the plane crash was truly an accident, and at the time they didn't have the forensic capability to really figure out what happenned. Unless there was suspicion that someone did it deliberately, I'm not sure why they would investigate.

Sam Cooke's shooting is a whole other thing though.

Yeah after reading what LBC posted, I'll conclude that Otis' death was truly an accident.

how did Etta know how extensive Sam's injuries were?

When this happened, there were pics of Otis Redding's body still strapped in the seat. It was so eirie.

scriptgirl said:

how did Etta know how extensive Sam's injuries were?

Sam's funeral was open-casketed so she saw a lot. It appeared that his face was real fucked up after he died.

AshK said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

http://www.surroundedbyre.../ORedd.asp

Wow, Otis was only 26 when he passed? I never realised he was so young, for a young man he sounds so...weary?

I went to the Stax Museum in Memphis and found that out. I always assumed he was in his 40's or something. He sounded AND looked much older than he was.

Yeah, why did Otis look so old and why, if Sam Cooke's face was fucked up, was it an open casket funeral?

scriptgirl said:

Yeah, why did Otis look so old and why, if Sam Cooke's face was fucked up, was it an open casket funeral?

It's a tradition in funerals, mainly black ones I think.

[Edited 7/14/10 23:35pm]

Timmy84 said:

AshK said:

Sorry to take it off topic...but I agree with what you said about Sam's death, it was very suspicious, more so then Otis'. Etta James said the injuries he sustained were too great to be explained by the shooter's account of what happened. Seems like the real cause of his death has never was never given any oppurtunity to be discussed in court. Part of me thinks the jury were just dazzled by the lie detector results without really understanding how unreliable they are.

Yeah it's weird how they just bypassed it. Obviously some wrongdoing was done but I doubt it was because of what they claimed Sam was doing, which when you think about it, was beneath him.

You're right it did seem beneath him, even his sister said he wouldn't be caught dead in a seedy place/situation like that (sorry for the poor choice of words). The judge claimed that the purpose of the case was just to decide if the hotel woman was justified in shooting Sam and wouldn't even acknowledge or entertain anything else. Just seems ridiculous, how can you give a verdict of 'justified homicide' if you have no idea what went on?

BobGeorge909 said:

AshK said:

Wow, Otis was only 26 when he passed? I never realised he was so young, for a young man he sounds so...weary?

I went to the Stax Museum in Memphis and found that out. I always assumed he was in his 40's or something. He sounded AND looked much older than he was.

Yeah but you have to remember back then, men did look older than their age, sounded older and acted older. These days the younger you are, the younger you look and the younger you act.