Four People Killed In Jet Crash
Four people were killed in a September 29, 2008 night jet crash in West Columbia, S.C. According to reports by the Lexington County Coroner, and aircraft accident attorneys, the jet crashed while taking off at the Columbia S.C. airport. The pilot and co-pilot died from smoke inhalation and burns and two passengers were killed on impact.
Travis Barker, the former Blink-82 drummer and a celebrity disc jockey DJ AM were also severely injured in the crash but are recovering after being taken to the hospital.
Sarah Lemmon, the pilot and James Bland, the co pilot were killed as well as Chris Baker and Charles Still, both were working with the musicians. Federal officials said that the crew was trying to abort the take off because they heard a loud noise they took to be a tire blow out. All four casualties were from California.
The National Transportation Safety board reported that the cockpit voice recording indicated that the crew was trying to abort the takeoff at the time of the crash. The jet crashed at the end of the runway and exploded into flames. The plane was traveling at least 92 mph at the time the crew thought they heard the tire blow out and try to stop.
An expert on aviation said that a Lear-jet needs a minimum of 5,000 feet of runway space for takeoff and they were almost out of runway at the time they tried to abort. The musicians were heading for Van Nuys, California and were passengers on the Lear jet that was owned by Global Exec Aviation. The California based company had been in operation since last year.
Barker and DJ AM Goldstein were found near the wreckage as they tried to put out the fire that was burning their clothes. Barker suffered burns to his torso and lower body and DJ AM, Adam Goldstein was burned on his scalp and upper arm. Burn injuries can take a year or more to fully heal. Barker and Goldstein had both performed at the MTV music video awards earlier this month.