Stephen Pearcy of Ratt will be the first to tell you that flying in a private jet is “Dangerous But Worth The Risk.” Don Dokken, on the other hand, never had any reservations about falling “Into The Fire.”
Both bands experienced a scare over the weekend as their plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Illinois after smoke was detected in the jet’s cabin. According to a post by the Washington Times on Saturday, “the pilots donned oxygen masks and landed the Challenger 601 with no incident. There were no injuries reported by the pilot or the 13 passengers.” The jet was flying at 7,000 feet when they were forced to “Lay It Down.”
Ratt and Dokken were flying from Moline, Illinois, to a gig 170 miles away in the Chicago suburb of Wauconda. The ’80s hair metal bands have been playing shows in the area with Lita Ford and former Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach, and Saturday’s gig also featured Warrant, who are touring with vocalist Robert Mason (original singer Jani Lane died in 2011, but was officially replaced three years earlier).
Everyone got to the new venue via SUV safely and on time.
It’s easy to joke about this sorta thing, and post videos of Dokken’s “Burning Like A Flame” and Ratt’s “Nobody Rides For Free” (we’ll stick to the other hits, below). But we’re glad everyone’s OK. Besides, we’re pretty sure it would take more than a fiery plane crash to kill off Bobby Blotzer.