In the early 1980s Ozzy Osborne’s tour of the United States became associated with one of the most shocking incidents in the history of rock and roll.
During the era of arena tours bands were associated with outlandish stunts, throwing televisions out of hotel windows and driving cars into atriums and swimming pools.
However this incident involved a fatal air crash and nearly killed claimed the lives of Ozzy, his then partner Sharon and the rest of the band.
The fireball cut short the life of 25–year–old Randy Rhoads, said to have been a genius in the mould of Eddie Van Halen and Keith Richards.
Rhoads, a precocious talent, was hired by Ozzy to join his new band following the Birmingham man’s departure from Black Sabbath. But as they set out on the tour bus driven by Andrew Aycock, little did they know the horror that lay ahead.
Everything seemed fine until a routine fault developed with the bus’s air conditioning system, prompting Andrew to stop at the Flying Baron estates near Orlando in Florida, where he hoped to get the fault fixed.
Andrew, who had a pilot’s licence, asked band’s manager, Jake Duncan and keyboardist Don Airey to join him on a flight in a stolen plane when he decided to buzz the tour bus as a prank to wait anyone who was sleeping.
The driver then landed the stolen plane, but decided on a second flight. On this journey he was joined by Rhoads, who boarded the Beech F35 despite a fear of flying. Rachel Youngblood, a makeup artist and hairdresser, also boarded the plane.
Ozzy Osbourne at his Black Sabbath farewell gig at Villa Park stadium in July 2025
Ozzy Osbourne pictured with Randy Rhoads (pictured at the Blizzard of Ozz Tour) who died ina plane crash in 1982
Airey, the sole witness to the incident, said that he saw the Beachcraft approaching the tour bus at a very low altitude. At this point Don became concerned that the plane might hit him, so he threw himself to the ground.
One of the craft’s wings then clipped the bus, at which point it flipped over and collided with a colonial era mansion. The pilot and two passengers all died in the ensuing fireball, and had to be identified through dental records and jewellery they were wearing.
A report in the New York Times read:’The lead guitarist of the rock group headed by Ozzy Osbourne was killed today, along with two other persons, when a plane in which they were buzzing a mansion struck a van and crashed into the house, the authorities said.
‘Randall Rhodes, 25 years old, the guitarist; Andrew Aycock, 36, identified as the pilot, and Rachel Youngblood, 58, were killed in the crash, Deputy Sheriff Mike Smalt of Lake County said.
‘Mr. Osbourne, known for such outrageous stage antics as biting off the head of a live bat, was in the van when one of the plane’s wings clipped it but escaped injury, the deputy sheriff said.
‘Several other members of the group were in the two–story colonial house, but fled before it was destroyed by flaming gasoline.
‘The group was staying at the mansion before a concert appearance that was to be held today in Leesburg but fled before it was destroyed by flaming gasoline.
‘The group was staying at the mansion before a concert appearance that was to be held today in Leesburg.’
Ozzy said of the plane crash: ’To this day, as I’m talking to you now, I’m back in that field looking at this fxxxxxx plane wreck and a house on fire.’
Pictured on the Blizzard of Ozz tour, pictured far left, Randy Rhoads, pictured second right, Ozzy Osbourne
Bernie Tormé (pictured performing at Madison Square on the Diary of a Mad Man Tour) was drafted in to replace Rhoads,
Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 at Luzhniki Stadium
Speaking to Rolling Stone about the crash which claimed three lives, Ozzy said: ’To this day, as I’m talking to you now, I’m back in that field looking at this f***** plane wreck and a house on fire.’
‘You never get over something like that. You’re in shock.’
Ozzy wanted to abandon the tour, but Sharon is said to have reminded of him of the age old dictum that the ‘show must go on’
The tour did continue, only for a second incident which nearly claimed Sharon’s life at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
A fan threw a firework on stage, which bounded around and then hit Sharon on the neck and then exploded, leaving her on the floor in a pool of blood.
At this point the lights went on and Ozzy had to perform. Bernie Tormé, who was drafted in to replace Rhoads, recounted the incident to Rolling Stone.
Mr Tormé, who once played with Deep Purple, said: ‘Someone in the audience chucks a firework or something, which does the impossible and bounces under the [scrim] and hits Sharon in the neck, where it explodes — boom — right in front of me. She goes down like a rag doll — blood everywhere — two crew guys run out and pick her up and she’s gone.
‘There was just a pool of blood left. I seriously thought she was dead. But the thing was, I was the only one in the band who could see any of this happening.
Black Sabbath’s solo tour – The End – saw them perform in locations across the world. Above: Osbourne with Butler, Iommi and Tommy Clufetos, who filled in for original drummer Ward
Osbourne is pictured eating an ice cream in hospital after his June 2022 operation, which his wife Sharon would ‘determine the rest of his life’
The frail star is pictured in May 2022 shortly before he went into hospital for his major back operation
‘No one in the band knows about what happened, and there’s no chance to tell Ozzy. It’s not like a Rolling Stones gig where Keith can stroll up to Mick and say, “Hey, man, I think your old lady’s taken incoming.”
‘I was more than a bit distracted for the first half of the show until one of the crew signaled to me that she was OK.’
A subsequent report by the National Transportation Safety Board later found that the aircrash which claimed three lives was due to ‘pilot error’. The board deemed the plane to have been ‘stolen’ by Aycock in that he did not have permission to fly it.
The report read: ‘The pilot, who was a rock group driver, took an aircraft from the hangar without permission to joy ride members of the group.
‘During the second flight the aircraft wing hit the bus during one of several low passes over the area. The aircraft then hit a tree and a residence. A post crash fire occurred. The pilot’s last medical certificate was dated 11/16/79.’
