While air travel remains remarkably safe, more than a few celebrities lost their lives aboard doomed flights. Here are the top ten most tragic aviation crashes involving celebrities.

10. John Denver – October 12, 1997
Country music singer John Denver died when his experimental EZ Lite aircraft crashed just off the Monterrey coast, in California. An experienced pilot, Denver was type rated for multi-engine and Learjet aircraft. Witnesses saw the ultra light dip suddenly into a nose dive into the ocean, leading some to speculate that Denver may have inadvertently knocked the side stick control while reaching around into the rear of the aircraft to operate the fuel selector valve after running out of fuel in one of the tanks.




9. Payne Stewart – October 25, 1999
The knickerbockers and tam o’shanter favoring American golfer was fresh off of his third Major championship win at the US Open at Pinehurst, when tragedy struck in the fall of 1999. For reasons still not completely understood, Stewart’s Learjet gradually lost cabin pressure while flying from Orlando to Dallas. For hours the plane continued to fly on autopilot, trailed by bemused F-16s before finally crashing in South Dakota once it ran out of fuel.

8. Otis Redding – December 10, 1967
Soul singer Otis Redding was only 26 when he died along with his manager and back up band, after his plane plunged into Lake Monona in Madison Wisconsin. The exact cause of the crash was never determined, though one of the surviving band members, who had been napping just before the plane went down, remembers his one of his colleague screaming out “Oh no!,” just before impact.






7. Paul Wellstone – October 25, 1999
The liberal icon and long time senator from Minnesota died, along with his wife and one of his children, when their chartered Beechcraft King Air A 100 crashed shortly after take off outside Evelyth, Minnesota. While the weather conditions included freezing rain and snow, the NTSB report puts most of the blame on the crew. The pilot and co-pilot each had below average records.

6. Aaliyah – August 25, 2001
Just 22 years old at the time of her death, Aaliyah had already established herself as a leading R&B star when her twin engine Cessna 402B crashed just after take off from Marsh Harbour, Abaco Island, Bahamas, where she had been filming a music video. Investigations uncovered that the pilot had not received a type certification for the aircraft, and the plane had been significantly overloaded. With so much of the weight loaded at the rear of the aircraft, the plane nosed upwards and into a stall.







5. John F. Kennedy, Jr.- July 16, 1999
John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the 35th president, died along with his wife Carolyn Bessette when their plane crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy was piloting his Pipier Saratoga II HP on a dark and hazy night when the crash occurred. It is believed that Kennedy, who had not yet been qualified for instrument flight rules conditions, was likely disoriented by the conditions.







4. Lynyrd Skynyrd – October 20, 1977
Shortly after beginning what was set to be the southern rock group’s largest tour, the band’s chartered Convair 240 developed mechanical problems en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While attempting an emergency landing at a small air strip, the plane crashed into a forest. Lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, and back-up vocalist Cassie Gaines, and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, died in the crash, along with the plane’s pilot and co-pilot. Most of the other band members suffered serious injuries.







3. Stevie Ray Vaughn – August 27, 1990
Hard living blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn had begun to experience a taste of mainstream exposure when tragedy struck. After finishing up his set at a show in East Troy, Wisconsin, Vaughn hitched a ride aboard one of the helicopters Eric Clapton (also performing that night) had chartered for his band. The helicopter crashed less than a mile from where it took off, killing all on board. Pilot error is believed to be the cause of the crash.







2. Roberto Clemente – December 31, 1972
When big league slugger and humanitarian learned the supplies he was sending to the victims the victims of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua were being interdicted by corrupt officials of the Somoza regime, he decided to take matters into his own hands by personally escorting an aid package. The plane he chartered sadly had a history of mechanical problems, and was overloaded by 5,000 pounds, and crashed into the ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico.

1. Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens – February 3, 1959
They call it “The Day The Music Died”, when a small plane carrying three legends of early American rock and roll- Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens- crashed into an Iowa cornfield. To this day, the exact causes of the crash remain unknown, but it is believed to have been the result of a combination of poor weather conditions and pilot error.