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US Airways Rough Landing Not to Blame for Billy Mays' Death

It was a bad week to be a celebrity last week. We spent the weekend mourning Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon but it turns out we've still got some more mourning left to do. Famous pitchman Billy Mays, who you probably remember from the Oxiclean commercials, died at his home in Tampa, Fla. yesterday, hours after a rough landing at the Tampa airport where the US Airways plane he was on blew out a tire as it touched down.

Mays had told news reporters after he got off the plane that something had hit his head. He also complained about not feeling very well before going to bed later that night.

Tampa police initially said that any connection between his death and the landing was "purely speculation." Indeed, the results of an autopsy where just released moments ago and the Hillsborough County Coroner said heart disease, not the rough landing, was to blame for Mays' death. Either way, the world has lost its best "pitchman."

While Mays only had about 4,000 Twitter followers before his death, that number has jumped to 10,000 today. But we can't imagine US Airways is too happy about his last ever tweet which he wrote just after landing:

Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."

Related Stories:
· TV pitchman Billy Mays found dead in Florida home [Newsday]
· Us Airways coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: NY Daily News]