 While on tour for her 1990 album , McEntire lost eight members of her band ; ( Chris Austin , Kirk <unk> , Joey <unk> , Paula Kaye Evans , Jim Hammon , Terry Jackson , Anthony Saputo , and Michael Thomas ) , plus pilot Donald Holmes and co @-@ pilot Chris Hollinger , when their charter jet plane crashed near San Diego , California in the early morning of March 16 , 1991 . The accident occurred after McEntire 's private performance for IBM executives the night before . The first plane was a Hawker Siddeley DH @-@ 125 @-@ 1A / 522 charter jet , believed to have taken off around 1 : 45 AM from the Brown Field Municipal Airport , located near the border of Mexico . After reaching an altitude of about 3 @,@ 572 feet ( 1 @,@ 089 m ) above sea level , the aircraft crashed on the side of Otay Mountain , located ten miles east of the airport , while the second plane ( carrying her other band members ) did not crash . The accident was believed to have occurred due to poor visibility near the mountain , which was not considered " prohibitive " for flying . The news was reported nearly immediately to McEntire and her husband , who were sleeping at a nearby hotel . A spokeswoman for McEntire at the time stated in the Los Angeles Times that " she was very close to all of them . Some of them had been with her for years . Reba is totally devastated by this . It 's like losing part of your family . Right now she just wants to get back to Nashville . " 
