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Red Clay Strays Share Terrifying Video From Turbulent Private Flight: “If It’s Gonna Go Down, It’s Gonna Go Down To Lynyrd Skynyrd”
The Red Clay Strays had quite the scary flight this past weekend.
The band from Mobile, Alabama was headed out west to play at the REDWEST 2025 music festival on October 12, and from the looks of the video they posted on their social media, they almost didn’t make it. Their private flight to their tour date could have ended in disaster if it wasn’t for the pilots of the jet keeping their cool.
Video from inside the plane shows bandmates Drew Nix (electric guitar, vocals, harmonica), Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass), John Hall (drums), Sevans Henderson (keys), and frontman Brandon Coleman fearing for their lives as the small plane they were trusting to get them to Salt Like City, Utah was being thrown around up in the sky.
As the plane and the band really appeared to be at the mercy of nature, Bishop made the questionable decision to cue up some Lynyrd Skynyrd on his phone, saying:
“If it’s gonna go down, it’s gonna go down to Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think I want to go back to commercial flights.”
For those that might not know (most people do), three Lynyrd Skynyrd band members died in a horrific plane crash in 1977, in addition to a handful of other people aboard. So deciding to play their music in that moment is pretty brave if you ask me. I generally avoid any Lynyrd Skynyrd music when I’m flying about in a big metal tube in the sky.
Top three songs that should not be played on a plane (especially one that is potentially going down) or in an airport? Sure we can do that real quick.
3) “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John Denver
2) “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty
1) Any Lynyrd Skynyrd song
Moving right along, the plane eventually landed safely and the Red Clay Strays were able to stop white-knuckling the seats they were sitting in. Upon safely landing, Andrew Bishop asked the pilots that navigated the rough, turbulent air this question:
“So it doesn’t get much worse than that?”
One of the two pilots responded with this:
“No, it doesn’t get much worse. I mean, you die. That’s about as bad as it gets right there.”
When a pilot tells you that the only thing that could have been worse than what they went through was dying in a plane crash, you know it was a very serious situation. I can only imagine how happy the Red Clay Strays were to stand on solid ground a couple of minutes after this nightmare flight.
Especially Brandon Coleman, since he apparently got sick during the descent and admitted this to the camera afterwards:
“I threw up. I threw up really bad.”
And when you are fearing for your life, that’s completely acceptable.
As to why the flight was so bumpy and dangerous, the conditions in Salt Lake City were not ideal. The winds were gusting, and the Red Clay Strays say they hit a bank that was over 40 degrees while they were trying to touch down in Utah:
“Apparently we hit an over 40 degree bank while trying to land in Salt Lake. Naturally, as we thought the plane was going down, Andrew Bishop thought it was a good time to play some Skynyrd. Seriously though, very thankful to our pilots James Pruitt and James D. Pruitt for their quick-thinking and coolness under pressure. Y’all rock!”
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A post shared by Red Clay Strays (@redclaystrays)
That’s every flyer’s nightmare right there.
Fortunately, the Red Clay Strays are all still fine, and seem to have narrowly avoided disaster. Will they ever fly private again? Who’s to say really? Surely they are comforted by the fact that they made it through the close call, and other artists flocked to the comments section to let them know that they too have gone through some scary flights:
Dexter and the Moonrocks: “‘If we’re gonna go down we’re gonna go down to Skynyrd’ is iconic.”
Brandi Carlile: “Laughing out loud, been there.”
Lukas Nelson: “Wow!”
Brent Cobb: “I know y’all done s***.”
Billy Strings: “Nope. F*** that all the way. God, I hate flying. I have reoccurring nightmares about plane crashes all the time. S*** drives me nuts… I’m typing this on my way to the airport coming home from Dublin. F*** me.”The post Red Clay Strays Share Terrifying Video From Turbulent Private Flight: “If It’s Gonna Go Down, It’s Gonna Go Down To Lynyrd Skynyrd” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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