Bono and Jimmy Buffett Recall Facing Gunfire After Jamaican Authorities Made a Terrible Mistake: ‘We Were All Going to Die’
Jimmy Buffett is a beloved musician, a singer/songwriter who has embodied the laid-back Gulf Coast lifestyle for decades. Buffett’s music is known for being a chronicle of his experiences and adventures. And over the years, Buffett has often written about some of the dramatic things that have happened in his life.
Notably, Buffett’s hit song “Jamaica Mistaica” tells the strange-but-true tale of what happened when the musician and his good friend, singer and activist Bono of the band U2, tried to land in Jamaica in 1996, only to accidentally incur the wrath of the Jamaican authorities.
Jimmy Buffett and Bono are longtime friends
Buffett has been a mainstay in the music business since the ’70s. His songs “Margaritaville” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty” put the songwriter on the map. And over the years, a lively fan base formed around his songs and the lifestyle he espoused. Buffett was able to maintain his momentum throughout the ’80s and ’90s, writing and releasing hit songs and earning new fans.
Buffett not only impressed fans and music lovers, but he was able to form some impressive celebrity connections as well. One of Buffett’s longtime friends is the singer Bono, the frontman for the Irish rock band U2. Over the past decades, Bono and Buffett have spent a lot of time together — including some time on Buffett’s planes.
With his commercial pilot’s license, Buffett has often taken trips to various exotic destinations like Jamaica. One day in 1996, the two singers were on Buffett’s plane, heading to Negril, when they encountered a disaster.
What happened when Jimmy Buffett and Bono tried to land in Jamaica in 1996?
In January 1996, Buffett and Bono, along with a small cohort of friends and family, taxied into Negril on Buffett’s Grumman HU-16 Albatross, when shots rang out in the air. According to Buffett World, Jamaican authorities started shooting at the plane because they mistook Buffett’s plane for a drug-running plane.
Bono later described how the people on the plane dove for cover, telling the Belfast Telegraph that “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. It was absolutely terrifying and I honestly thought we were all going to die.”
As reported by Negril Times, Buffett and his friends had only gone to Jamaica to find some jerk chicken when the incident occurred. Fortunately, no one was injured by the gunfire, with only a few shots actually striking the plane itself. The Jamaican authorities later apologized for the incident, and it was ruled an unfortunate understanding.
Buffett, ever one to memorialize his life in songs, wrote about the scary scene in his 1996 song “Jamaica Mistaica,” which was featured on his album of the same year, Banana Wind.
Buffett has an impressive plane collection
Buffett is a very wealthy man and loves spending his money on certain of his expensive hobbies. Over the years, he’s bought a number of planes, which he utilizes to travel the world and explore the tropical places he loves so much.
According to Buffett News, the singer has owned close to 10 planes over the past three decades, with at least four registered to him in recent years that he likely still owns. These include a 1941 Boeing E75 Stearman, a 1998 Cessna Caravan 208, and a 1992 Dassault-Breguet Mystere Falcon 900.
