Help: Stan Rogers

Subject: Stan Rogers
From: Jasper
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 11:08 AM

Anyone here know the real story of what happened to Stan Rogers the night he was killed? I knew about the crash but I was talking with some friends the other night and the true story seems to be taking on almost mythological proportions.

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Bob Landry
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 11:32 AM

Stan was returning to Canada from a folk festival in the Southern US when a passenger on his Air Canada flight threw a lit cigarette in a washroom ashtray. The plane caught fire in mid-air and managed to land at an airport in Cincinnatti. While on the ground, a number of passengers managed to usecape using the escape chutes but Stan was overcome by smoke and died on the airplane. Those are, more or less, the facts. The legendary part is that Stan selflessly gave up his own life helping other people to the door through the smoke.

Bob

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 11:32 AM

Everyone involved from friends, family, and the media expected the myths to start shortly after Stan's untimely passing. Simply put, his music and his perceived persona had a tremendous effect on an awful lot of folks, so the stories that started making the rounds were inevitable.
Stan died in the fire aboard the plane, unable to get out in time, along with a number of other passengers. I've heard of (but not actually heard) songs having been written dramatising the actual events of the tragedy, but that's the folk process in action.
Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 11:38 AM

Stan Rogers takes you to an old thread with a lot of conflicting information on that night.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Mike Regenstreif
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 11:41 AM

First thing you should know is that the plane did not crash. There was a fire on board and the plane made an emergency landing at the Cincinatti airport. Thirty-three people, including Stan, were killed in the fire. A number of others were rescued and survived.

Over the years, there have been legends that Stan helped a number of his fellow-passengers escape the fire before he died. I don't think those stories have ever been verified.

Stan was a friend of mine and its been very strange seeing the human being I knew turned into a legendary and sometimes mythological figure.

BTW, it was Paul Mills (aka Curly Boy Stubbs) who first suggested to me that I check out the Mudcat forum. Paul was Stan's closest friend and produced all but one of his albums.

Mike Regenstreif

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:00 PM

Went back and read the thread. Very little in the way of conflicting information, but the first post from mudcatter Paul Mills. Paul's about the busiest guy in the folk biz but I know he's enjoyed the Mudcat.
The "smoking on the plane" thing was interesting though. Every responsible news outlet accurately carried the story that faulty wiring caused the fire, but the "cigarette" thing seemed to be picked up by a number of people and spread as rapidly as the "heroic rescuing" stories. I think some folks have to have an identifiable villain to blame (along with a larger than life hero to worship) and an "illegal smoker" is an easier target than the non-specific nature of "faulty wiring".
The airline would have loved to have had the blame placed on a passenger breaking the rules, but it didn't happen that way.
Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Jasper
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:02 PM

Thank you for the information and links.

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Bob Landry
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:23 PM

I just read, for the first time, the thread that Wolfgang points to. In the light of information from the FAA report (which I did not know about), I stand corrected on the smoking cigarette issue (which I learned through word of mouth). Thanks Rick, Paul et al, I wouldn't want to go on spreading false information.

Bob

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Barbara
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:27 PM

I remember, Rick, that the news stories specified a fire had started in the lavatory area in the back of the plane, and I suspect that was a very short gap for people to jump to reach an incorrect conclusion.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:40 PM

Ok, I'm gonna get in trouble here but...I think anyone smoking on a plane should be SERIOUSLY punished! Same with these total morons who've been assaulting airline staff while in the air. If these things shouldn't be jailable offences I don't know what should be. The people charged though just get the mandatory slaps on the wrist.
And I smoke, so I don't have an axe to grind.
Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Bob Landry
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 12:45 PM

Rick, you won't get any flack from me (I, gasp, smoke too!)

Bob

Subject: RE: Help: Stan Rogers
From: Margo
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 01:20 PM

My dear Rick, I believe you're right on the money about the creation of legends and villians. People really do like to have an easy target to blame. And I don't smoke, and I still don't have an axe to grind. :o)

Marg