Inside Deadly Plane Crash That Travis Barker and Adam ‘DJ AM’ Goldstein Survived

On Sept. 19, 2008, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and his friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein were performing a concert near the University of South Carolina, and despite Barker’s fear of small planes, they chartered a private jet for transportation to and from Los Angeles.

Around 11:30 p.m., after the show, the musicians boarded the twin-engine Learjet alongside Barker’s assistant Chris “Lil Chris” Baker, his bodyguard Charles “Che” Still and the pilot, Sarah Lemmon, and co-pilot James Bland. It was cleared for takeoff at 11:53 p.m.

As the plane headed down the runway, air-traffic controllers and a witness on the ground noticed sparks coming from somewhere near the wheels.

“I thought they blew a tire and were coming in,” airport maintenance technician Nate Bozeman told PEOPLE at the time. “But then it got close to the end of the runway and didn’t stop.”

According to the cockpit voice recorder, Lemmon attempted to abort the takeoff; instead, the jet hurtled through airport antennae and then a fence before crossing a five-lane road and finally coming to rest on an embankment 100 ft. from the end of the runway.

“As soon as it disappeared from view,” says Bozeman, “it exploded.”

A Miraculous Survival

Lemmon, 31, and co-pilot Bland, 52, were killed, as were Baker, 29, and Still, 25. But Barker, 32, and Goldstein, 35, miraculously survived and were spotted a few feet from the wreckage by local resident William Owens, 60, who had been driving near the airport.

“I saw two men beating off flames from their bodies,” Owens told PEOPLE. “They tried to go to the grass, take their clothing off and put out the fire on each other.” According to Lt. Josh Shumpert, who was at the scene, “They told me they slid down the wing of the plane. They were in shock.”

Goldstein had suffered burns to his scalp and was airlifted to the hospital. But Barker, whose wounds were on his torso and lower body, went in an ambulance because he didn’t want to go back in the air. Both men underwent skin grafting surgery on Sept. 21 and were listed in critical but stable condition. “A full recovery is expected,” Dr. Fred Mullins, the center’s medical director, told PEOPLE at the time.

After weeks in the hospital, enduring skin grafts and time in a hyperbaric chamber, both men returned home to continue their recovery. But as the physical scars began to heal and fade, the mental ones remained fresh as ever. Barker, in particular, was left deeply mourning the loss of his friends Still and Baker, who had been described as “his best friend.”

A Tormented Aftermath

Four weeks later, Goldstein, a popular DJ who had dated both Mandy Moore and Nicole Richie, opened up to PEOPLE about the crash.

He’d spent four days in a burn center in Augusta, Ga., then was driven to L.A., where he had two skin-graft surgeries on his neck and left arm. “I am the luckiest man alive,” he told PEOPLE. He described the incident in detail:

“When the plane was on the runway, I took my shoes off and fell asleep. The next thing I remember is us crashing into something. I woke up to Travis screaming and the plane engulfed in flames. I remember thinking it was like Miami Vice, where a car is on fire and you run before the gas tank explodes — we gotta get out of here! Travis jerked open the door and slid on his butt down a wing that was on fire. I tried to cover my face as I jumped through a fireball. As soon as I hit the ground, I remembered ‘stop, drop and roll,’ so I started rolling.”

He saw Barker on fire next to him: “I saw Travis running and flailing, trying to put out fire on his body. He screamed, ‘What do I do!’ I said, ‘Roll!’ He did, but the fire didn’t go out. He tried to rip his clothes off. I finally put the flames out by smothering him with my body. Some of my burns are from that. His sock was on fire — I burned my fingers taking it off.”

He added, “In the ambulance I was in so much pain. It sounds weird, but they turn the heat on full blast so your body doesn’t go into hypothermia. On burns that’s excruciating. We were screaming and moaning. Still, I don’t know why, but I believed I’d be okay. I kept thinking, ‘Where are Lil’ Chris and Che?’ ” At the time, Goldstein told PEOPLE he felt relief to learn they’d died on impact and hadn’t felt any pain or suffered.

Goldstein, a recovering addict, had to be careful with his pain medications. He returned to work on Jay-Z’s tour not long after, but didn’t fly private and grappled with his emotions.

“My emotions go back and forth,” he said. “At the first hospital, I screamed, ‘Thank you!’ Then I wondered, Why did I live? I can’t believe I made it. Any second it can all be gone. I’ve prayed every night for the past 10 years. There’s a lot more to thank God for now. My philosophy is to live life to the fullest. I was saved for a reason. Maybe I’m going to help someone else. I don’t question it. All I know is I’m thankful I’m still here.” He added, “I have faith that everything happens for a reason. I put myself in God’s hands.”

A Second Tragedy — and Death

Only weeks before the anniversary of the crash, Goldstein was found dead in his New York City apartment on Aug. 28. Having ended his relationship with his model girlfriend Hayley Wood earlier in the week, Goldstein Tweeted an ominous Grandmaster Flash lyric on Aug. 25: “New York, New York, big city of dreams/ And everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.”

When a friend was unable to reach him on Friday before a flight to Las Vegas for a weekly gig, he called 911. The police found Goldstein in bed with a half-used bag of cocaine, two pipes and prescription pills nearby.

After his death, friends and experts wondered if the PTSD from the crash had been too much to bear.

“Having severe anxiety and PTSD that involves reliving the trauma increases cravings for drugs,” addiction specialist Dr. David Sack told PEOPLE at the time. But close friends said Goldstein had shown no signs of slipping back into addiction.

His longtime pal Stacey Wechsler told PEOPLE, “He was in pain from the accident, but he was happy to be alive. He was always looking for peace. And maybe he’s found it.”

Learning to Fly … Again

After the accident, Barker swore off flying for good. But in 2021, after falling in love with Kourtney Kardashian, he was able to take his first flight again.

“I made a deal with her that she had just said to me, ‘I would love to do so much traveling with you. I want to go to Italy with you. I want to go to Cabo with you. I want to go to Paris with you. I want to go to Bora Bora with you,’ ” he told the magazine NYLON in 2021. “And I said, ‘Well, when the day comes you want to fly, I’m telling you I’ll do it with you. I would do anything with you. And just give me 24 hours notice.’ And that’s what she did.”

He continued, “It’s still something very new to me, but having something that gives me the strength and hope to be able to overcome things that were so traumatic in my life, it just says a ton,” he said. “She’s definitely that for me. I’m invincible when I’m with her. It’s just like I never dreamed, I never even considered flying again.”

In 2024, he wrote that he’d taken 30 flights with his wife, and was able to tour with his band Blink-182 again, after they reunited in 2022.

“Wouldn’t be able to tour or enjoy life again the way I do without the healing love of my amazing wife. I love you @kourtneykardash 🙏🏼❤️” he wrote on Instagram. He was even able to join his band on tour in Australia.

“I still hate flying,” he wrote on X at the time. “I love touring and playing music but I unfortunately associate traveling and flying with death. I am strong and nothing can keep me from living life though 💪.”