They Were Afraid of that Plane
Everyone in the band was afraid of riding on that plane. Cassie Gaines, Steve’s sister, who was also one of the unfortunate few who boarded that plane, would routinely ride on the equipment bus instead of flying. The bus was small and cramped, but it felt safer better than lifting off of the Convair CV-240.
Source: Wikipedia
The band members clearly had a hunch that the plane was bad news. Like Cassie, Artimus Pyle was notoriously outspoken against the crappy plane, and on several occasions, he would take buses to shows. One of the band members, JoJo Billingsly, was not on that flight. To her incredible luck, she was sick and was going to meet up with the band in Arkansas to continue the tour.