The novel was Carrie, which was first published in 1974, so that doesn't really prove much, that's 30 years before the plane crash.
Of more interest is that "Downtown" was played on a CD - I've not yet verified when it was first printed onto CD, because it is a bitch to search through all Clark's compilation CDs, but it might narrow down a date of The Other's definite last contact with the outside world.