The plane, a Douglas DC-3, was brought down mid-flight outside De Kalb, Texas, by a fire that rapidly spread from a suspected faulty in-cabin heater.
Nelson launched his musical career as a teenager on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the television show hosted by his parents.
On a separate occasion, in September 1985, a malfunctioning ignition magneto prevented the plane from flying, meaning that Nelson could not participate in the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.
[3] At approximately 5:14 p.m. CST on December 31, the plane crash-landed outside of De Kalb, Texas, northeast of Dallas, in a cow pasture less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from a landing strip, hitting trees on its way down.
However, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Jim Burnett said that although the plane was filled with smoke, it landed and came to a stop before it was swallowed by flames.
He said that after activating an automatic fire extinguisher and opening the cabin's fresh-air inlets, he returned to the cockpit, where Ferguson was already asking air traffic controllers for directions to the nearest airfield.
[9] According to another report, the pilot indicated that the crew repeatedly tried to turn on the cabin heater shortly before the fire occurred, but that it failed to respond.
On January 6, 1986, 250 mourners entered the Church of the Hills in Los Angeles for funeral services while 700 fans gathered outside.
Attendees included Colonel Tom Parker, Connie Stevens, Angie Dickinson, and dozens of actors, writers and musicians.
Only days after the funeral, rumors and newspaper reports erroneously suggested that cocaine freebasing was among several possible causes of the plane crash.