Dion DiMucci with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), Frankie Sardo, and other performers. On February 3, 1959, after a concert stop in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly and others decided to charter a flight to the next venue rather than travel on the tour bus. Dion was invited to accompany the group but decided that he did not want to spend $36 for the flight, as it was the same monthly rent his parents paid for his childhood apartment and he couldn't justify the indulgence. The plane crashed, killing all on board: Holly, Valens, Richardson, and the pilot Roger
The plane crash (Neighbours) Morning Herald", enjoyed the storyline branding it "the plane crash we had to have." He also suggested Network Ten should have had a competition for viewers to select which characters should survive and die in a ""Big Brother" meets Agatha Christie" style. Anderson was upset at the thought of Susan Kennedy dying and questioned "They wouldn't kill her off, surely." A "Daily Record" reporter commented that while the Ramsay Street residents were not strangers to disasters, all previous events "pale in comparison" to the "shocking" plane crash. Brian Courtis from "The Age" was not a fan of the storyline giving