FORMER OZZY OSBOURNE BASSIST, BOB DAISLEY, PROVIDES HIS THEORY, AS TO WHAT HE BELIEVES MAY HAVE CAUSED THE PLANE CRASH, THAT KILLED GUITARIST, RANDY RHOADS, AND TWO OTHERS

On a recent podcast, of Talk Louder, hosted by veteran music journalist “Metal Dave” Glessner, and lifelong hard rock/metal vocalist Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys), former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley discussed the infamous plane crash in March 1982, that took the lives of [original guitarist] Randy Rhoads,, and two others.

Daisley said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “You hear people say things like, ‘Oh, if Randy hadn’t got on that plane, he’d be still with us,’ and blah, blah, blah. And ‘if’ is a little word with such a big meaning. ‘If he’d done this,’ or ‘if he hadn’t done that’ and all the rest of it, as his own brother, Kelle, said, ‘Yeah, and if he hadn’t got on that plane, he could have walked across the street to get a bottle of pop and got hit by a truck or something.’ And who knows? When your number’s up… As my grandfather used to say, ‘If I knew where I was gonna die, I wouldn’t go there.’ … It happened, and it was meant to happen. And that was Randy‘s time. And as sad and tragic as it was, it is what it is, and nothing can change it.”

He then went on to explain, what he believes may have happened, to cause the plane crash. He said, “In my personal view, I think that Rachel, the wardrobe lady, seamstress that was in the plane with Aycock and Randy, I think she had a heart attack, and the autopsy proved that she had had a heart attack. It was a dual-control plane. I think she had a heart attack, stomped on the dual control, sent the plane plummeting. Those planes with a V tail like that are very hard to pull out of a dive. And I think that’s what happened. I don’t think that they were buzzing the bus that close like that. And I don’t think Aycock was out of his mind on cocaine or anything like that. I think Rachel had a heart attack and she sent the plane plummeting and he couldn’t pull it out of the dive and it just clipped the bus and bang, it’s all over… I think it was [a] single-engine [plane]. I’m pretty sure it was single engine. I think Randy was in the back and those two are in the front. So the dual-control plane was Aycock piloting and Rachel sitting next to him at the dual control.”

The bassist added, “Randy didn’t like flying. And Rachel had said, ‘Oh, I don’t really wanna go up.’ I wasn’t there, but this is what I have found out since, that she didn’t wanna go up because she said, ‘I’ve got a heart condition.’ And [Aycock] said, ‘Okay, I’ll keep it calm. I’ll keep it nice. I won’t do anything silly.’ But when they got up there, that’s what happened. And I think that she had a heart attack up there. The autopsy proved that she had had a heart attack. So I think that was what was behind the whole tragic event.”

Asked if he thinks he would have gotten on that plane had he still been in the band at the time of the crash, Bob responded, “I would sit it out. I’m not a big fan of flying. I’ve done lots of it — I mean, I don’t know how many lifetimes’ worth of flying in one lifetime — and I’ve never really enjoyed it. I always feel a little anxious flying. So it’s not something I would choose to do. ‘Oh yeah. I’ll go up for a joyride.’ [I would probably say] ‘Nah, I’ll sit this one out.'”

Daisley wrote/co-wrote the lyrics/music for a good portion of Ozzy‘s early solo catalog, including the albums Blizzard Of Ozz, Diary Of A Madman, Bark At The Moon, The Ultimate Sin and No Rest For The Wicked. He also served as a bass player on Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman“ before he was fired from Osbourne‘s band after the recording of the latter.

[Dana’s note: Daisley also a wrote a very good book called For Facts Sake, which can be purchased, here.]