That Time Willie Nelson Walked Away from a Plane Crash with a Smile

For decades, Willie Nelson has been a major part of the country music world. From writing classics like Faron Young’s “Hello Walls” and Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” to spearheading the Outlaw Country movement in the ‘70s, he’s done it all. At 91 years old, Nelson has collected and been at the center of so many incredible stories that it would be nearly impossible to keep track of them all. For instance, he walked away from a plane crash in the ‘70s.

Many musical legends have lost their lives to plane crashes over the years. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Patsy Cline, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, most of Reba McEntire’s band, and many more have lost their lives after planes went down. Fortunately, Nelson walked away from one that could have been fatal in the ’70.

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Willie Nelson Walks Away from a Plane Crash

The late golf pro Larry Trader who was friends with Nelson recalled the frightening incident in the 2000 book Willie: An Autobiography. Trader reflected on how Nelson walked away from many accidents and mishaps in the book when he came to the story of the plane crash.

“Willie was flying into the landing strip near Happy Shahan’s Western town that they used for the Alamo movie set. Happy is watching the plane coming in, knowing Willie is on it,” Trader recalled. “The plane hits a big chughole in the strip and flips over on its side and crashes,” he added.

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Trader noted that Shahan was always on the lookout for publicity. So, when he saw Nelson’s plane crash on his runway, he immediately called the news media saying, “Willie Nelson’s plane just crashed. Y’all better hurry.” Then, he got in his Jeep and drove to the crash site.

“Here comes Willie and his pilot, limping up the road,” Trader wrote. By then, reporters had already arrived. “They started firing questions at Willie. How did he survive? Was he dying? Was he even hurt?” he added.

While no doubt shaken, Nelson showed his sense of humor. “Why this was a perfect landing,” he told reporters. “I walked away from it, didn’t I?”

About Nelson, Trader added, “He’s accident-prone. This is why you have to be careful around him at all times. I love the man, but you don’t never know when something might fall on him.”

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