On January 16, 1996, Jimmy Buffett and Bono found themselves mixed up in a dangerous case of mistaken identity.
The “Margaritaville” singer had booked his Grumman HU-16 Albatross seaplane — nicknamed the Hemisphere Dancer — for a flight down to the Caribbean island. Joining hom on the flight would be Island Records founder Chris Backwell, as well as Bono, his wife and their two children.
Prior to the trip, Jim Powell, Buffett’s trusted pilot and aviation expert, cautioned the singer to rethink his plans.
“Jimmy wanted to land on the north coast, and I looked at the weather map and knew the water would be too rough for his seaplane to land and that we’d end up having to make alternate, last-minute arrangements,” Powell recalled to the Chicago Tribune. “I didn’t have any approval for alternate arrangements.”
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Concerned that the plane could be confiscated if it landed somewhere else, Powell suggested the trip be postponed for better planning.
“Jimmy was saying, ‘Come on, let’s go have fun,’ and I didn’t want any part of it at that point,” Powell admitted. “I felt responsible, so I decided not to go.”
‘I Honestly Thought We Were All Going to Die’
Powell’s prediction proved surprisingly accurate. After initially planning to land in Montego Bay, Buffett’s plane was rerouted to the western port of Negril. As the seaplane taxied on the water after landing, gunshots rang out. Jamaican authorities fired at the aircraft, believing it was being used by drug dealers.
“These boys were shooting all over the place. I felt as if we were in the middle of a James Bond movie — only this was real,” Bono recalled to the Belfast Telegraph. “It was absolutely terrifying and I honestly thought we were all going to die.”
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“Thank God we were safe and sound,” the U2 frontman continued, noting that his immediate concern was the safety of his children. “It was very scary, let me tell you. You can’t believe the relief I felt when I saw the kids were okay.”
An estimated 100 rounds of bullets were sprayed at the aircraft. Thankfully, nobody aboard the Hemisphere Dancer was injured, though the plane’s windshield was shattered and its fuselage damaged.
Jimmy Buffett Turned the Life-Threatening Incident Into a Song
Following the incident, Bono immediately flew with his family back to Miami. The Jamaican government later issued a public apology for the mistake. Meanwhile, Buffett (unsurprisingly) found humor in the whole ordeal.
“I thought it was a joke until I heard the gunfire,” the singer admitted to Rolling Stone. “They thought we were a dope plane. I mean, we looked about as much like a dope plane as I look like somebody who’d be on the Pat Robertson show.”
In June of ‘96, five months after the shooting in Jamaica, Buffett released his 20th studio album, Banana Wind. It featured a song inspired by the incident titled “Jamaica Mistaica,” with a chorus that said: “Come back, come back, back to Jamaica / Don’t you know we made a big mistake-a? / We’d be so sad if you told us goodbye / And we promise not to shoot you out of the sky.”
Listen to ‘Jamaica Mistaca by Jimmy Buffett
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Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin
