Buddy Holly's brother on NTSB's possible new look at plane crash: Officials 'ought to just leave it alone'

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into a request to reopen the investigation of the Iowa plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959, that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson.

Neither of the two brothers of Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holly, the Lubbock native who decided to fly to his next concert site, feel that any new information would be found.

Travis Holley, the older brother who taught Buddy his first guitar chords, told A-J Media, "I think they ought to just leave it alone.

"I don't think they need to be looking into it again."

The Civil Aeronautics Board ruled in 1959 that the most likely cause of the crash was pilot error. Snow was listed as a secondary cause.

The musician's eldest brother, Larry Holley, said Tuesday he has flown small planes and "has had a good idea" of what happened before the plane crashed.

He described the plane used as "a little ol' (Beech) Bonanza four-seater, probably wrong for that flight."

He reasoned the plane most "likely was overloaded" with four men and all their luggage, that the "glass (windshield) was probably fogged over" and the pilot "a young man with only a little instrument training."

Larry Holley felt that pilot Peterson, 21, "probably misread a new Sperry (attitude) gyro that had been put in (the plane) - especially if the glass was fogged, there were no lights, it was 10 (degrees) below zero, no visibility and he needed to fly on instruments."

Holley feels that Peterson could have misinterpreted the Sperry gyro's readings, assuming he was ascending when he was in fact descending.

According to a Civil Aeronautics Board report:

¦ The altitude gyro indicator was stuck in a manner indicative of a 90-degree angle.

¦ The rate of climb indicator was stuck at 3,000-feet-per-minute descent.

¦ The airspeed indicator needle was stuck between 165-170 mph.

The Globe Gazette reports the board has agreed to consider another investigation after receiving a letter from New England pilot L.J. Coon. He contended there were other issues involving weight and balance calculations, the rate of the plane's climb and descent, fuel gauge readings and the passenger-side rudder.

"You have gotten our attention," the NTSB said in a letter to Coon. "Let us do our due diligence in order to give you a proper answer."

Board spokesman Terry Williams told The Associated Press that all requests to reconsider past investigations are handled in the same fashion to determine if the case warrants reopening. He said fewer than 10 such requests are made annually across all modes of transportation, with less than 50 percent of cases reopened.

An initial response to Coon's information will take about two months. It could then take up to a year to decide if the petition will be granted.

Gary W. Moore, who wrote a book about Holly, believes the Civil Aeronautics Board made the right decision when it blamed the crash on errors by the pilot. The plane crashed into a farm field in Clear Lake less than four minutes after takeoff from the Mason City Municipal Airport.

"I think that what they are going to find is it's pretty simple," Moore said. "The pilot was unqualified to fly in those conditions and he lost control of the airplane."

The plane never would have been chartered at all had the bus transporting Holly and the other musicians been equipped with a working heater.

Holly had agreed to headline a monthlong "Winter Dance Party" bus tour that would make almost nightly concert stops in different cities.

Holly was not performing with the Crickets at that time. His band consisted of Tommy Allsup, guitar; Waylon Jennings, bass; and Carl Bunch, drums.

But the bus at times broke down and was poorly equipped, with musicians wearing heavy coats as the bus was driven through winter weather, from one city to another, without benefit of a working heater. Many musicians caught the flu, and Bunch had been treated in Ironwood, Michigan, for frostbitten feet.

After playing the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly decided to charter a plane that would take him and two others to Fargo, North Dakota, the nearest airport to the next concert in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Jennings was to take the flight, but gave his seat to Richardson, sick with the flu. Allsup gave up his seat on the plane when he lost a coin toss with Valens.

The owner of the Surf Ballroom, Carroll Anderson, chartered the plane from Dwyer Flying Service. Hubert Dwyer, owner of the flying service, hired local pilot Peterson.

Dwyer took his own plane up the next morning and found the crash site within minutes.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)