The death of Ricky Nelson at age 45 resulted from a crash landing of his band's aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, on December 31, 1985, outside De Kalb, Texas. The Americanpop star and six others, including several band members and Nelson's girlfriend, Helen Blair, were killed in the incident, while both pilots survived. The suspected cause of the forced landing was a faulty in-cabin heater that caught fire mid-flight.
Background
Nelson dreaded flying but refused to travel by bus. In May 1985, he decided he needed a private plane and paid $118,000 for a 14-seat 1944 Douglas DC-3 that had once belonged to the DuPont family and later to Jerry Lee Lewis. After Nelson took ownership of the plane, it was plagued by a history of mechanical problems. In one incident, the band was forced to push the plane off the runway after an engine failed, and in another incident, a malfunctioning magneto prevented the plane from flying and Nelson from participating in the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.
Crash landing
On December 26, 1985, Nelson and the band left for a three-stop tour of the southern United States. Following shows in Orlando, Florida, and Guntersville, Alabama, Nelson and band members took off from Guntersville for a New Year's Eve extravaganza in Dallas, Texas. The plane crash-landed outside of De Kalb, Texas, northeast of Dallas, in a cow pasture less than two miles from a landing strip at approximately 5:14 p.m. CST on December 31, 1985, hitting trees on its way down. Seven of the nine occupants were killed: Nelson and his companion, Helen Blair, 27; bass guitarist Patrick Woodward, 35; drummer Rick Intveld, 22; keyboardist Andy Chapin, 34; guitarist Bobby Neal, 38; and road manager/sound man Donald Clark Russell, 35. Pilots Ken Ferguson and Brad Rank escaped through cockpit windows, although Ferguson was severely burned.
Burial
Nelson's remains were misdirected in transit from Texas to California, delaying the funeral for several days. On January 6, 1986, 250 mourners entered the Church of the Hills for funeral services while 700 fans gathered outside. Attendees included "Colonel" Tom Parker, Connie Stevens, Angie Dickinson and dozens of actors, writers and musicians. Nelson was privately buried days later at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park–Hollywood Hills cemetery in Los Angeles.
Aftermath
Nelson's ex-wife Kristin Nelson threatened to sue the Nelson family for her former husband's life insurance money and tried to wrest control of his estate from David Nelson, its administrator. Her bid was rejected by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Ricky Nelson had bequeathed his entire estate to his children and did not leave anything for his ex-wife. Only days after the funeral, rumors and newspaper reports suggested that cocaine freebasing was among several possible causes of the plane crash. Those allegations were refuted by the National Transportation Safety Board following its investigation.
Investigation of incident
Reports vary as to whether the plane was on fire before it crashed, though some witnesses attested that it was indeed in flames while still airborne. However, NTSB chairman Jim Burnett said that although the plane was filled with smoke, it landed and came to a stop before it was swallowed by flames. The NTSB conducted a year-long investigation and finally concluded that, while a definite cause was still unknown, the crash was probably the result of a fire that was caused by the plane's cabin heater "acting up."
Pilots questioned
When questioned by the NTSB, pilots Brad Rank and Ken Ferguson had different accounts of key events. According to Ferguson, the cabin heater was acting up after the plane took off. Ferguson said that Rank repeatedly went to the back of the plane to try to fix the heater, and that Rank told Ferguson several times to turn the heater back on. "One of the times, I refused to turn it on," said Ferguson. He continued, "I was getting more nervous. I didn't think we should be messing with that heater en route." After the plane crashed, Ferguson and Rank climbed out through the cockpit windows, suffering extensive burns. They shouted to the passenger cabin, but there was no response. Ferguson and Rank backed away from the plane, fearing an explosion. Ferguson stated that Rank told him, "Don't tell anyone about the heater, don't tell anyone about the heater." However, Rank told a different story. He said that he was checking on the passengers when he noticed smoke in the middle of the cabin, where Rick Nelson and Helen Blair were sitting. Even though he never mentioned a problematic heater, Rank stated that he went to the rear of the plane to check the heater, saw no smoke, and found that the heater was cool to the touch. He said that after activating an automatic fire extinguisher and opening the cabin's fresh-air inlets, he returned to the cockpit, where Ferguson was already asking traffic controllers for directions to the nearest airfield. Rank was criticized by the NTSB for not following the in-flight fire checklist, opening the fresh air vents instead of leaving them closed, not instructing the passengers to use supplemental oxygen and not attempting to fight the fire with the handheld fire extinguisher that was in the cockpit. The board said that while these steps might not have prevented the crash, "they would have enhanced the potential for survival of the passengers." The words of the NTSB seemed to echo those of firefighter Lewis Glover, one of the first on the scene, who stated, "All the bodies are there at the front of the plane. Apparently, they were trying to escape the fire."
Suspected cause
An examination indicated that a fire had originated on the right side of the aft cabin area at or near the floorline. Some reports said the passengers were killed when the aircraft struck obstacles during the forced landing. The ignition and fuel sources of the fire could not be determined. According to another report, the pilot indicated that the crew repeatedly tried to turn on the gasoline cabin heater shortly before the fire occurred, but that it failed to respond. After the fire, the access panel to the heater compartment was found unlatched. The theory is supported by records that showed that DC-3s in general—and this aircraft in particular—had a history of problems with the cabin heaters.
