A request to reopen the investigation into the 1959 plane crash that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, JP Richardson, better known as 'The Big Bopper', and their pilot is being reviewed.
Holly and the others had just completed a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, on 2 February 1959.
They opted to charter a small airplane to the next tour date in Moorhead, Minnesota, because they had experienced bus trouble on the tour.
The plane crashed shortly after taking off from nearby Mason City, Iowa, early the next morning, killing the musicians and pilot Roger Peterson, 21.
The original investigation 56 years ago, conducted by the Civil Aeronautics Board, blamed the crash on the pilot's decision to embark on an instrument-guided flight he was not certified for and, secondarily, on poor weather briefing.
The National Transportation Safety Board in the US received a request recently from pilot LJ Coon to reconsider the decision, the Mason City Globe Gazette reported.
"We are reviewing the petition to reconsider the Buddy Holly crash," the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Petitions must be based on the discovery of new evidence or on a showing that the findings are erroneous and not on previously advanced positions, according to NTSB regulations.
