Rocker Travis Barker and DJ AM Critical After Plane Crash
Ex-Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, DJ AM burned in crash that killed 4.
Sept. 20, 2008 — -- Travis Barker, the former drummer for the pop-punk band Blink 182, and Adam Goldstein, also known as DJ AM, were hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns after the fatal crash of a Learjet Friday on takeoff from Columbia S.C.
Four other people aboard the jet died in the accident. They included the pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, Calif., and co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, Calif., Lexington County Coroner Harry O. Harman said.
Also killed were passengers Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, Calif., and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles, The Associated Press reported.
Barker, 32, and Goldstein, 35, managed to get out of the plane on their own before rescue crews arrived, according to Lynne Douglas, a spokeswoman for the Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
The four victims who died never emerged from the plane's burning wreckage.
Barker and Goldstein both suffered severe burns, and are being treated at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., burn center spokeswoman Beth Fritz told ABC News.
The pair had been in Columbia performing together as TRV$DJ-AM at a free concert sponsored by T-Mobile in the Five Points area. Other performers included Gavin DeGraw and Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane's Addiction and founder of Lollapalooza.
Farrell's manager, Peter Katsis, confirmed to ABC News that Farrell was not on the Learjet that crashed.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene today, trying to determine a cause of the crash. The runway where the crash occurred was closed so investigators could comb it for evidence, but they were also looking back over the past three days.
"We are very thorough," NTSB investigator Debbie Hersman said. We generally look back 72 hours at what the crew was doing, determine their work-rest schedules, their experience, whether or not their certificates are valid, their medical history.
"We are looking at everything," she said. "We have ruled nothing out."