When Holly learned that his bandmates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings jokingly replied, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" Less than an hour and a half later, shortly after 1:00 am on February 3, 1959, Holly's charter plane crashed at full throttle into a cornfield outside Mason City, instantly killing all on board.