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December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982
On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida, when they stopped at the bus driver's house in Leesburg, Florida after driving much of the night. The driver, Andrew Aycock, whose pilot license had expired, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a plane he had taken without permission and took off early that morning. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping. They succeeded three times but the fourth time it went horribly wrong. The right wing clipped the right side of the tour bus by accident and crashed into a nearby mansion completely destroying the front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was found later that Aycock had an expired flying license and had some amount of cocaine in his system; Rhoads's toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs.
Randy's funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, CA, where he attended as a child. He was interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California (where his grandparents are also buried). At the time, Randy's mother was living in Burbank. The Rhoads family and many fans gather there on the anniversary of his death as well as his birthday to pay tribute and
On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida, when they stopped at the bus driver's house in Leesburg, Florida after driving much of the night. The driver, Andrew Aycock, whose pilot license had expired, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a plane he had taken without permission and took off early that morning. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping. They succeeded three times but the fourth time it went horribly wrong. The right wing clipped the right side of the tour bus by accident and crashed into a nearby mansion completely destroying the front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was found later that Aycock had an expired flying license and had some amount of cocaine in his system; Rhoads's toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs.
Randy's funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, CA, where he attended as a child. He was interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California (where his grandparents are also buried). At the time, Randy's mother was living in Burbank. The Rhoads family and many fans gather there on the anniversary of his death as well as his birthday to pay tribute and
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