Fear Of Flying

The controversy surrounding Aaliyah Haughton's death in a plane crash is far from over. It turns out the 22-year-old American R&B superstar was hesitant to board the tiny Cessna from the Bahamas to Miami, Florida. One friend who was with her at the airport says Aaliyah was scared of small planes--and had been expecting a larger aircraft. The company producing her video (being shot in the Bahamas) offered to charter a private jet instead, but Aaliyah was anxious to get home to her boyfriend and enjoy her last free weekend before beginning a rigorous fall schedule.

While the pilot, Luis Morales III, was unauthorized to fly the Cessna, U.S. investigators said that the plane was 700 pounds overloaded. Most of the equipment flown down to the island on two cargo planes days earlier was loaded onto this one Cessna. Investigators say the extra weight eclipsed the plane's limit, which, combined with a possibly faulty left engine, may have made the plane impossible to control.

Allegations are being fired at everyone from the pilot to the plane's owner, to the company operating the flight. But the search for who is to blame is not likely to end there. "Everyone and anyone is liable here. Somebody dropped the ball in this particular situation and somebody will have to pay for it. It's as simple as that," says Darrel Jones, a legal consultant for several large record companies.