This "OBIT" thread also serves as a warning about the state of the aviation industry at present, and as a cautionary tale about making sure YOUR plane is safe and that YOUR pilot is responsible, BEFORE you fly:

Not only are there reports that the plane was overloaded beyond its capability to get off the ground, but now the pilot and the airline are also coming under scrutiny for their roles in this tragedy.

Here's the address of an article on abcnews.com (dated 29-Aug-01): http://abcnews.go.com/sections/entertainment/DailyNews/aaliyah010829.html

Briefly, it states that Blackhawk International Airways (they owned the Cessna) has been cited four times in the past four years (once for a safety violation). The pilot, Luis Morales, III, was not authorized to fly that plane, and 12 days before the accident he had pleaded no contest to cocaine possession and 3 other felonies.

The article also mentions the investigation into the cause of the crash. Apparently, one of the plane's engines failed. Morales had had difficulty starting one of the engines, but there's no word in this article as to whether it was the same engine. Investigators are also looking into the claim that the Cessna was overloaded, and that the pilot gave in and took off after the entourage refused to take some of their music video equipment off the plane.

So here we have a(nother) case where several of the parties involved have shown blatant disregard for their own safety as well as the safety of others, running against the almighty clock for the sake of the almighty dollar... and nine (more) people have been laid on that dollar's altar and sacrificed to it.

The relevance of this to Mudcat? Well, most of the singers and performing songwriters that we love to hear have to travel via aircraft to entertain us. Anything that we can do to persuade/force airlines, as well as singers' managers, to act more responsibly will allow our favorite entertainers to remain on the planet longer!

Any proactive 'Catters out there know how to go about changing those kinds of things for the better? What, where, how and to whom to write?