Roger Peterson

Roger Peterson (pilot)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roger Arthur Peterson (May 24, 1937 – February 3, 1959) was a 21 year old pilot of the aircraft whose crash took the lives of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson as well as himself. The event came to be known as "The Day the Music Died". http://www.wa1lmc.com/wa1lmc/rogerpeterson.html Peterson was born and raised in Alta, Iowa, the eldest of four children born to Arthur and Pearl Peterson. According to the Civil Aeronautics Board's accident report, by 1959, Peterson had been flying for over four years, receiving his private pilot's certificate in October 1954 and commercial pilot's certificate in April 1958; a short time later he was hired as a pilot for Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa.
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On the evening of February 2, 1959, the manager of the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake contacted Peterson to arrange a charter flight from Mason City to Fargo, North Dakota. The Ballroom was hosting the Winter Dance Party that evening and one of the tour's performers, Buddy Holly, wanted to fly ahead of the rest of the tour members, who were traveling by bus. Peterson agreed to take the flight, and when the performers arrived at the airport, he learned that in addition to Holly, his other two passengers would be Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
The plane, a 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza (registration number N3794N), took off in light snow from Mason City Airport around 1:00 on the morning of February 3, 1959. The plane turned 180 degrees to the left and aimed north, achieving an altitude of 2000 feet MSL, cleared the airport, turned towards the northwest and faded from view. Moments later the Beechcraft crashed in a cornfield five miles northwest of the airfield, killing Peterson and his three passengers.
The Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the primary cause of the crash was pilot error due to Peterson's inability to accurately interpret the plane's Sperry F3 attitude indicator which he was forced to rely upon in the prevailing weather conditions. The theory is that Peterson may have read the unusual gyroscope as though it was a conventional gyro and thought that the plane was gaining altitude when it was actually descending. Peterson was not qualified to fly solely by reference to instruments. A secondary factor was that the pilot had not been informed of adverse flash weather forecasts.

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la "situation du jour" du pilote n'était pas non plus des plus favorables... pas du tout, même... puisqu'il sortait d'un jour critique émotionnel E1... et se trouvait en pleine période critique septennale des 21 ans...

février 1959 (24/05/1937)
Di 1 P(12)
Lu 2 E(1)
Ma 3
Me 4