On October 25, 1991, a Bell 206 carrying rock music concert promoter Bill Graham, his girlfriend Melissa Gold, and pilot Steve Kahn crashed into a transmission tower west of Vallejo, California, killing everyone on board.

[3] The Bell 206B JetRanger was operating under Federal Aviation Regulation Part 91,[3] and departed from parking lot "F"[5] of the Concord Pavilion around 9:45 pm, bound for the Commodore Center Heliport (KJMC) in Sausalito, California, about 27 miles (43 km) to the west-southwest.

Before take-off, the pilot requested and received a special VFR clearance to pass through the airspace of Buchanan Field Airport on a northwest heading.

[6] Using pilotage to navigate from one landmark to another at an altitude just below the cloud base, the pilot proceeded through the city of Vallejo and began following California State Route 37.

[5] The inquiry found the pilot had considerable geographic knowledge of the area and decided to fly VFR when conditions would indicate use of instrument flight rules (IFR).