On March 16, 1991, the celebrity and her band performed at a private event in San Diego. Two planes were ready at Brown Field Municipal Airport to transport the band members to Fort Wayne, Ind., for the next gig on their itinerary.
The band members and tour manager flew ahead, leaving McEntire, her then-husband and manager Narvel Blackstock, and her stylist Sandi Spika in San Diego for the night.
In a sad interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2012, McEntire recalled what happened next. The second plane took off and arrived at its destination unharmed, but the first jet to leave crashed barely 10 miles east of the airport.
“The tip of the plane’s wing hit a boulder on the edge of Otay Mountain, and it killed everyone on board,” McEntire told Oprah. “When we were notified, Narvel went to our pilot and told him what had happened.”
“When Narvel returned to the hotel room where I was — two or three a.m. — and said one of the planes had crashed, I asked, ‘Are they OK?’ ‘I don’t think so,’ he responded. ‘But you’re not sure?’ I asked. ‘I don’t think so,’ he replied.”