Barker And AM Survive Plane Crash

09/22/08 11:08am

Drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM suffered second- and third-degree burns in a plane crash that killed the four other people on board on Friday night.

The Learjet 60 was taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in Columbia, S.C. at 11:53 p.m., shortly after Barker and AM (real name Adam Goldstein) were part of a free concert that attracted 10,000 fans, when it skidded off the end of the runway and crashed through light towers before crossing a five-lane highway and finally stopping in an embankment, where it burst into flames.

The cockpit recorder was recovered and federal investigators have found evidence that the twin-engine private jet may have blown a tire shortly before takeoff.

"The crew attempted to reject the takeoff but was unable to stop the aircraft before it departed the runway," National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Debbie Hersman told Associated Press.

The jet was cleared to depart for Van Nuys, Calif., no other planes were on the runway, no vehicles were on the road and the weather was clear with light winds prior to takeoff. Air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks come from the plane as it went down the runway and immediately contacted the airport fire-rescue crew. Rubber and other aircraft parts were apparently found on the runway.

Barker's assistant, Chris Baker, and security guard Charles Still were killed in the accident along with pilot Sarah Lemmon and co-pilot James Bland.

A witness told local television station WIS that Barker and AM jumped from the wreckage and helped each other extinguish the flames by ripping off their burning clothes.

Both men were taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., where it was announced on Sunday morning that they were in critical but stable condition and expected to make full recoveries. People can send messages of support by visiting Doctors-Hospital.net and then clicking on "Visitors" and "Email a Patient."