Drummer Artimus Pyle's experience as a band member in Lynyrd Skynyrd and the tragically fateful day that the plane they rented crashed in the swamps of Gillsburg, MS on October 20th ,1977. Chartered by the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from L & J Company of Addison, Texas, it was flying from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashing near its destination.[3][4]. (Photo by Tom Hill/Getty Images), trees in a rural area near McComb, Miss., Thursday night, Oct. 20, 1977 killing six people including three members of a rock group from The Lynyrd Skynyrd Band. I mean everybody was going, Oh shit, were going down.. Lynyrd Skynyrd poses for a shot for their Street Survivors album. One of the most tragic stories in rock history has got to be the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash that took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie. The words "FREE BIRD" and several names and messages are carved into trees at the site. Pyle is still alive but has not been part of the bands roster since 1991. Concerns over the flight crew led Aerosmith to look elsewherea decision that saved one band but doomed another. But for those who knew the band's story and their growing rise to fame, that day was one of the most tragic in rock history. The remaining band members continued to make music through the 80s under various configurations, most notably the Rossington-Collins Band, who took special pains to distance the new outfit from a reborn Skynyrd tag by recruiting a female lead singer, Dale Krantz. He was right about both. Collins was 37 years old. Together, the new band began working on new songs. He yelled stop, I saw the gun. Friday marks the 40th anniversary of one of classic rock music's greatest tragedies the crash of the plane carrying the Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band had just released their biggest album to date and was riding off of a good high. He had been dealing with liver and lung disease, and a combination of the two seems to have played a role. Now, on the 28th anniversary of the devastating . Auditorium on January 30, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. As far as what caused the crash itself, the investigators concluded the following: "The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines due to crew inattention to fuel supply. The case went to trial, and he was acquitted in 2009. The aircraft was old; earlier that year, members of Aerosmith's flight crew had declined to use it because they felt it wasn't up to snuff. Allen Collins, 33, a guitarist in the Skynyrd band, was listed in serious condition Thursday at University Hospital. Wilkeson died in 2001 of chronic liver and lung disease; he was only 49. I dont care what it was, says Pyle. Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer and plane crash survivor Artimus Pyle. (Photo by MCA/Chris Walter/Getty Images), on July 10, 1976 in Atlanta, Georgia. Advertisement But the band had a tragic chance when a plane crash killed almost the whole band. >>. A couple of years later, however, Pyle had to bow out of the Rossington Collins Band after a motorcycle accident left his leg broken in 20 places. Five surviving band members Allen Collins, Billy Powell, Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkerson, and Artimus Pyle suffered critical injuries, from multiple broken bones to debilitating internal injuries. Guitarist Ed King blamed Wilkesons wife for the injury, while she claimed it was King in an infamous article published by Spin. Unable to perform, Collins served as musical director for the Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour, which kicked off some 20 years after the crash in 1987. Lynyrd Skynyrd, a Southern rock institution that . By 1972, after gigging relentlessly and leaving behind two seven-inch singles and a trail of different monikers, they'd become Lynyrd Skynyrd, a vowel-play on the old schoolteacher who'd. The new project did not include drummer Artimus Pyle, who in another stroke of Skynyrd misfortune had badly shattered his leg in a motorcycle accident. Everyone listened anxiously as officials worked to identify and release the names of those killed. Rossington suffered a heart attack in late 2015, and had surgery to repair blockage in his arteries the following year. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was fuel exhaustion and total loss of power from both engines due to crew inattention to fuel supply. A 31-year-old woman in Collins' car died . Other major artists will also be involved, but names have not yet been released since the record is still in production. Artimus Pyle,a pilot himself, told everyone how to prepare for the inevitable crash. Even in the 21st century, despite an official investigation and opinion that . After nearly a full decade of work, the southern rock forefathers had finally put together a lineup that was ready to take over popular music. "We are not declaring an emergency, but we do need to get close to McComb as straight and good as we can get, sir," McCreary stated. This year, Lynyrd Skynyrd sued him over his plans to make a Skynyrd biopic initially called Free Bird, until a cease-and-desist order forced a title change to Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash. Ironically, Artimus Pyle said that as the band flew on the fateful craft, they decided to secure a Learjet for future flights and a "beautiful bus for the crew. By 1987, it seemed solidified: The late Van Zant was replaced by brother Johnny, while Rossington, Pyle, Powell, and Wilkeson resumed their former duties. They would never make it. Three-Guitar Attack. >>. The doctor told him Van Zants body was intact, but he had died from a single blow to the head. He came out of the house, and I looked like Charles Manson all covered in blood, with my long hair and beard. The plane was gliding at a five degree angle before finally heading into the trees near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Selected discography. Aerosmith almost bought the plane from the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash Earlier in 1977, there was another rock and roll band in the market for an airplane. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, New York ruled that Pyle's filmidea, Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, could be released as well. On October 20, 1977, the passenger plane carrying Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed while on tour, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie . Two days later their fifth album, Street Survivors, debuted. This map was created by a user. Collins lost that fight, succumbing to respiratory failure on Jan. 23, 1990 almost four years to the day after his crippling car accident. (Pyle managed to escape with just broken ribs; Collins suffered two broken vertebrae in his neck and damage to his right arm that nearly resulted in amputation; Rossington broke his arms, legs, wrists, ankles, and pelvis; keyboardist Billy Powell suffered severe lacerations on his face and right leg; and bassist Leon Wilkeson broke his left arm so badly and permanently, he had to relearn how to hold his instrument.) Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (L-R - Leon Wilkeson, Artimus Pyle, Billy Powell, Allen Collins [+] (top), Ronnie Van Zant (seated, Gary Rossington and Steve Gaines pose for an MCA Records publicity still circa 1976. The one-car accident killed his passenger, girlfriend Debra Watts. [9], Keyboard player Billy Powell's nose was nearly torn off in the crash as he suffered severe facial lacerations and deep lacerations to his right leg. Six others were injured, including Powell and Pyle: band members Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson, and Gary Rossington, as well as security manager Gene Odom. Powell pulled off his t-shirt, clamped it over his nose and began trying to help. Thirty-five years ago Saturday, a plane carrying the band Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Miss., killing six people, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and. The following year, he rebelled and ran read more, On October 20, 1994, Burt Lancaster, a former circus performer who rose to fame as a Hollywood leading man with some 70 movies to his credit, including From Here to Eternity and Atlantic City, in a career that spanned more than four decades, dies of a heart attack at the age of read more, On October 20, 1774, the First Continental Congress creates the Continental Association, which calls for a complete ban on all trade between America and Great Britain of all goods, wares or merchandise. On October 20, 1977, a plane crash killed three members of the group, including its guiding light, Ronnie Van Zant. Nine separate findings were listed, including statements that both engines on the plane "ceased to produce power because the aircraft's useable [sic] fuel was exhausted" and that the crew, Walter McCreary and William Gray,"failed to monitor adequately the fuel flow, en route fuel consumption, and fuel quantity gages [sic]." Houston asked McCreary to confirm that. In the summer of 1977, members of the rock band Aerosmith inspected an airplane they were considering chartering for their upcoming toura Convair 240 operated out of Addison, Texas. Collins made another attempt by starting the Allen Collins Band, which included Wilkeson and Powell and released one album in 1983 to lukewarm response. It was the first American victory in the event since 1956. The crew also failed to "take appropriate pre-flight action to assure an adequate fuel supply," and flew for some time with the right engine's fuel mixture "in the auto-rich position. Although at least one band member, Cassie Gaines, expressed doubts about flying on the Convair, Van Zant talked everyone into using it. He departed after recording of Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991, citing the toll from continued legal battles between the surviving band members and Ronnie Van Zants widow Judy. While on the road in the early '90s, a sleeping Wilkeson had his throat slit aboard the Lynyrd Skynyrd tour bus. As those on board began preparing for what that might mean, Pyle, who had served in the Marines as an Aviation Electronics Technician and had some pilot experience, moved into action. [13] She reported dreaming of the plane crash and begging guitarist and founding member Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using the Convair. When the pilot and co-pilot realized they couldnt make it to a nearby airport to refuel, they began looking at options for an emergency landing. The eccentric 69-year-old dictator, who came to power in a 1969 coup, headed a government that was accused of read more, After advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte, fulfilling his promise to return to the area he was forced to flee in 1942. He later returned to music as leader of the Artimus Pyle Band before reconvening with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1987 until the early '90s. (AP) Lynyrd Skynyrd, the rock band famous for "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird," now has highway signs pointing to the site of the Mississippi plane crash that claimed the lives of some of its members. But you may not know the tragedy that the now 63-year-old faced years ago. On October 20, 1977, however, during a flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Lynyrd Skynyrd's tour plane crashed in a heavily wooded area of southwestern. At some point the passengers became aware that something was wrong, and drummer Artimus Pyle recalls entering the flight deck and being told by the terrified captain, Walter McCreary, to go back and strap himself in. Here are their stories. Nearby is a metal stand with neon lights, honoring those who died so long ago. They boarded the aircraft without incident as Lynyrd Skynyrd planned to arrive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for their subsequent performance. They were pioneers of the genre and did a lot of things not many bands before them had done, says aspiring Nashville-based country singer Kayleigh Mathews who visited the memorial in September. He had a pillow in his hand. (AP Photo), 20, 1977. The subsequent report by the NTSB listed "an engine malfunction of undetermined nature" in that same engine as a contributing factor in the crash. He was injured in the October 1977 plane crash that took the lives of five people, among them founding member and vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines. He would end up getting shot along the way. The site has drawn visitors over the years. It was the last communication from the plane. His nose, he discovered, was now hanging from the side of his face and bleeding profusely. In 1978, the National Travel Safety Bureau ruled the probable cause of the accident was fuel exhaustion combined with a lack of attention from the crew, which made the engines stop, but the cause was never absolutely confirmed. On March 16, 1991, Reba unexpectedly lost seven of her bandmates and her tour manager in a plane crash while promoting her Rumor Has It album. I was going back and forth from the cockpit to the cabin, talking to the pilots, telling everybody to put out their cigarettes, turn off any lights, and conserve any power we had. In addition, several expanded and re-mastered versions of the album are available today. The newly renamed band scored a major hit with their hard-driving debut album (pronounced lh-nrd skin-nrd) (1973), which featured one of the most familiar and joked-about rock anthems of all time, Free Bird. Their follow-up album, Second Helping (1974), included the even bigger hit Sweet Home Alabama, and it secured the bands status as giants of the southern rock subgenre. Guitarist Allen Collins, bass. Rock band. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ A former member of the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock group was hospitalized Thursday and faced reckless driving charges after a one-car accident that killed a passenger. But after a while, the pilots realized they were running low on gasoline. President Bobby McDaniel raised a combined total of $80,000 for the large black granite marker. All Rights Reserved. Twenty musicians (not counting backup singers) have been in Skynyrd since the crash. Both versions of Street Survivors sold quickly, to the tune of 500,000 records within a short time. For the Record . According to Check Six,the plane the band chose for the tour was a 1948 Convair 240, a twin-engine plane that had already accumulated over 29,000 flight hours. Gary Rossington, meanwhile, remained the only original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2019. Oct. 20, 1977, crash that killed 3 came days after release of 'Street Survivor' album It was 45 years ago when a plane crash claimed the lives of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van. A well-publicized drug and alcohol addiction was immortalized in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "That Smell," a cautionary tale written by Collins and Van Zant after Rossington plowedhis new car intoan oak tree and then a house after passing out at the wheel. Leon Wilkeson, known as "The Mad Hatter of Southern Rock," was the bassist of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Finally, however, what was left of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited in 1987, according to Check Six. [11] The band's ex-guitarist, Ed King, said later that he "always knew it wasn't gonna end well" for the band due to their penchant for drinking and brawling, but he could never have envisioned it ending the way it did, and recalls being overcome with sadness upon learning of the crash. He went out with his boots on, with style and grace, and honor, and he was just 29 years old. I went into survival mode, he recalls. The band that was Lynyrd Skynyrd (pictured here in 1977 before the tour)had gone from playing cards while Van Zant napped on the floor, to fearing for their lives. Thinking the men were escaped convicts, Mote fired his rifle in the air before he realized they needed help. Pilot Walter McCreary and Co-pilot William Gray rounded out the six fatalities. The. 0:27. Lynyrd Skynyrds most recent album, Last of a Dyin Breed, came out in 2012. [37] [38] Return (1987-1995) [ edit] [14], It was later discovered that the very same aircraft had earlier been inspected by members of Aerosmith's flight crew for possible use in their Draw the Line tour, but it was rejected because it was felt that neither the plane nor the crew were up to standard. The band itself, with three of its members gone, wouldnt perform for the next 10 years, until Ronnies brother, Johnny, took on the role of lead singer. But it would be 10 harrowing minutes before the plane touched down. On Oct. 20, 1977, an airplane transporting the band Lynyrd Skynyrd to a tour stop in Baton Rouge ran out of fuel and crashed in a wooded area near the Mississippi-Louisiana border. Allen Collins suffered a cervical spine injury; he also almost lost his right arm after suffering a severe gash, according to Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock. The album eventually became the band's second platinum album. Black granite marble wall listing the passengers on the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane that crashed on October [+] 20th, 2022. Tom Hill/Getty Images Ronnie Van Zant, a little over a year before the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash that killed him and several members of his band. [20] The film premiered at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival on February 18, 2020. So, there was some anger, but for the most part everybody was calm, cool, and collected. Still, he soldiers on, waving the Lynyrd Skynyrd flag proudly and even reviving the Rossington Band with a 2016 LP that was appropriately titled Take It on Faith. And in 2009, Powell died of a heart attack. A fairly unrecognisable version of Lynyrd Skynyrd have remained together since that 1987 reunion, but their road has remained a bumpy one, with a number of band members in dispute and facing legal . Ultimately, according to the Hollywood Reporter, a judge upheld the Consent Order and the movie was prevented from being released. The aircraft in question was instead chartered by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, who were just setting out that autumn on a national tour that promised to be their biggest to date. And yet, all of those original Skynyrd songs are just as loved today, as they were all those years ago. I was stumbling because I had injuries and thought I was dying. Street Survivors: The True . Record label MCA scrambled to replace Skynyrds Street Survivors album cover, which eerily forecast the accident by depicting the band members engulfed in flames. He was 37. 1974-present. Still, we were fretting. Follow On October 20, 1977, three days after releasing their album Street Survivors, southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, and boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane to take them to Baton Rouge, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University. [7] Despite their efforts, at approximately 6:52 pm[1] the plane skimmed about 100yd (90m) along the top of the tree line before smashing into a large tree and splitting into pieces near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Ronnie went to the back of the plane, and I remember thinking to myself, thats a good idea. As they neared the latter part of the flight, the Convair CV-240 ran out of fuel. We landed in Mississippi pine trees, three feet thick. McCreary gave an ETA of 6:45 p.m. Collins, who was charged with manslaughter for Wattss death, took the position of musical director of the group and, as part of his plea bargain, addressed the bands audience every night on tour from his wheelchair on the dangers of drunk driving. A band was born. Fifteen years later, he was arrested for not properly registering as a sex offender after his address changed. Then he spotted Pyle trying to crawl out of the wreckage, his ribs "sticking out" of his chest, as Powell told Rolling Stone (via Check Six). Just days after the crash, a television reporter asked the ailing Powell, "Will there be a Lynyrd Skynyrd after this?" Despite their long history of misfortune, Lynyrd Skynyrd do have one shining strength: their undeniable and enduring longevity. He recalled Van Zant shaking his hand as if to say goodbye. These tributes have been left by fans daring to cross private property lines to pay respect Lynyrd Skynyrd and the band's horrific and historic fate. And I think about it every day.. The 1977 accident, when the plane that the band chartered met a fiery demise in Mississippi, led to years of speculation about the causes behind the accident. Photo by YSSYguy CC BY-SA 3.0 More than four decades after he survived the crash that took the lives of three of his fellow Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates, including lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant, Artimus Pyle still feels the. Pyle believes he was probably struck by the heavy Sony Trinitron or beta machine they had on board that was loose and flying through the plane along with everything else upon impact. Forty-five years to the day after a plane crash claimed the lives of three members of southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Artimus Pyle remembers the tragedy like it was yesterday. His passing was chalked up to natural causes.. Disturbing Details About The Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash. It was 38 years ago Tuesday that three members of one of rock 'n' roll's biggest bands died in a plane crash near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Thats something I think about as a songwriter. The small plane had 26 people on board, and six were killed in the crash, including three members of The Lynyrd Skynyrd Band. According to a 1977 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Powell said, "I crashed into a table; people were hit by flying objects all over the plane." A couple years later, the guitarist got together with fellow Skynyrd member and guitarist Gary Rossington to form the Rossington Collins Band. You, as a person will not live forever, but your music and your work will. The result has been a long string of replacements, leaving Rossington as the sole representative of the classic Skynyrd lineup. And for a musician, that means being on the road. After a lengthy investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board released its official investigation into the accidentlater that month. On October 20, 1977, three days after releasing their album Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, and boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Contributing to the fuel exhaustion were inadequate flight planning and an engine malfunction of undetermined nature in the right engine that resulted in "torching" and higher-than-normal fuel consumption. Three years later, an intoxicated Collins crashed his car in Jacksonville, killing his girlfriend Debra Lizama Watts and rendering him paralyzed from the waist down and with limited use of his upper body. When Neil Young released his songs 'Southern Man' and 'Alabama' he had his crosshairs trained firmly on the South. M ary Thornton, a critical care nurse at Southwest Mississippi Regional hospital in McComb . Powell's nose had been nearly torn from his face. The wings were torn off along the crash path. In October of '77, legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer Artimu s Pyle and his band Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded a plane on their way to a show that would have a fateful ending. Wilkerson was found dead in his hotel room in 2001. Fast forward to August 2018 when Gary Rossington appeared and narrated part ofa documentary, Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrowdebuted on Showtime. Under that name and several others, the group developed its chops playing local and regional gigs throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, then finally broke out nationally in 1973 following the adoption of the name Lynyrd Skynyrd in honor of a high school gym teacher/nemesis named Leonard Skinner. Some of them went home and got tractors. Guitarist Gary Rossington is the only member left from the band's heyday. Lynyrd Skynyrd is a Southern rock band from Jacksonville, Florida.Formed in 1964, the group originally included vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, bassist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns.The current lineup features Rossington, guitarist and vocalist Rickey Medlocke (from 1971 to 1972, and since 1996), lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant (since 1987), drummer . On October 20, 1973, solicitor General Robert Bork dismisses Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox; Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus resign in protest. During the decades since, some initial survivors have passed away, while others did their best to endure. According to Time, the band's families were especially affected by the photograph and asked MCA Records to replace it. Gary Rossington and the heirs of Steve Gaines and Ronnie Van Zant objected to the idea, claiming "the survivors took a 'blood oath' to never use the name Lynyrd Skynyrd again." On October 17, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd released their fifth studio album, Street Survivors, which would eventually be certified double-platinum. The son of an American Civil War hero, MacArthur served as chief read more, After 15 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House is dedicated by Queen Elizabeth IIon October 20, 1973. But why? The top of the plane tore open as it glided through the trees, throwing people out and leaving a path of instruments and other items from the passenger section. We want vectors to McComb [airfield] poste-haste please, sir. Approximately 13 minutes later, however, the plane crashed just outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Phil Gibbons. Some passengers, in fact, were unable to make their way out of the wooded swampland in Gillsburg, Miss., a tiny town on the border of Louisiana where Lynyrd Skynyrd's Convair CV-240 went down. Guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines was in the center, standing with his eyes closed, mouth open. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, and although only one original member remains, they continue to have a significant presence in both the rock and country worlds. On this day 39 years ago, a plane crash claimed the lives of three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd: lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines. The band had planned on acquiring a Learjet after arriving in Baton Rouge, to replace the 30-year-old plane, which all in the band's circle agreed was well past its prime. Early in the flight, witnesses recall that lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant was lying on the floor with a pillow, having been up most of the previous night and being in need of sleep. Labels. Larkin Allen Collins Jr. [1] [2] (July 19, 1952 - January 23, 1990) was an American guitarist. He stopped at my seat, did the old hippie handshake, then gave me a beautiful smile. Growing up, all I knew of Southern Rock was Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I feel like visiting the site is kind of a rite of passage.. The lifeless bodies of pilots McCreary and Gray remained strapped in their cockpit seats, which were now suspended upside-down from a nearby tree. Although I like Lynyrd Skynyrd very much, this film is clearly made to show the importance of Artimus Pyle in the band - including pointing out that he was the one who got help to save the survivors of the plane crash. Fri 20th Mar 2020 17.41 GMT. I didnt have time to think, oh my God, were having a plane crash, but I knew it was serious.. Ronnie Van Zant, who wrote the bands most famous songs would write no more. This is a BETA experience. After making the 600-mile trip from Greenville to Baton Rouge, where they were due to play the following night at Louisiana State University, Lynyrd Skynyrd planned to acquire a Learjet, the. On October 20, 1977, however, during a flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Lynyrd Skynyrds tour plane crashed in a heavily wooded area of southwesternMississippi during a failed emergency landing attempt, killing band-members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines as well as the bands assistant road manager and the planes pilot and co-pilot. Learn how to create your own. Wilkesons heart failed twice at the scene, according to Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock. The Artimus Pyle Band established in 2010 to honor the music of Ronnie Van Zant's Lynyrd Skynyrd. "[1] The inspection also determined that, "All of the fuel cross-feed and fuel dump valves were in the closed position.