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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan

Tragic reason Travis Barker didn't fly for 13 years - and how Kourtney Kardashian helped

Travis Barker's whole body 'lit up' after he managed to escape a horrifying plane crash that claimed the lives of his best friends.

With his hands on fire, the Blink-182 drummer unbuckled his seat belt, jumped out of the emergency exit and slid down the plane wing, but fell into the jet and was left covered in fuel.

Travis tried to run away from the flames but his body was set alight in a matter of seconds - but he instinctively knew to rip his clothes off.

Through the chaos of the sirens, the 47-year-old heard someone yelling at him to 'stop, drop and roll', and the decision to do so more than likely saved his life.

As the plane was exploding, Travis lay next to the only other person who escaped the wreckage and screamed: "Are we alive?"

Travis Barker avoided planes for 13 years - but got the support of wife Kourtney Kardashian (Instagram/ Travis Barker)

For his entire life, Travis had been afraid of flying and as a teenager stated that he was "sure" he would die in a plane crash.

When Blink-182 were putting together artwork for their Take Off Your Pants and Jacket album in 2001, they created an icon for each band member: a jacket, a pair of pants, and an airplane.

"Please don't give me the plane—I have a really f***ed-up fear of flying," begged Barker, but he ended up with the plane anyway.

On that awful day in September 2008, Barker was flying with Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein after they performed at an event in Columbia, South Carolina and his security guard, Che Still.

When the plane set off just before midnight, the passengers heard a loud bang while moving on the runway and traffic controllers saw sparks coming off.

The pilots told the control tower that a tire had blown out and they were aborting the take-off, but tragically the plane veered off the runway and smashed into a fence.

The aircraft crashed into an embankment and burst into flames - with only two of the occupants making it out alive.

Four people were confirmed dead after the plane crash (Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

When the plane stopped moving, Travis tried to get everyone he could out, but it was only he and DJ AM who managed to escape.

Speaking about the terrifying ordeal on the Joe Rogan Experience in 2019, Travis said: "When I jumped through the emergency exit when the plane blew up, I was in such a hurry to exit the plane I jumped right into the jet, which is full of fuel.

"My whole body lit up. I had jet fuel in my whole body. I burped jet fuel for almost three months.

"When I jumped into the jets … I started running … I was ripping off my clothes because that's what my instinct told me to do … but little did I know I was still on fire because I was soaked in jet fuel."

The pair ran around in circles on the highway as they tried to extinguish the flames - and Travis then dropped to the ground while Goldstein helped put the fire out on his feet.

"My right foot almost didn't make it. That was the thing that was most soaked was my shoes and socks," he continued.

"I was running towards a highway and I hear some guy yelling, 'Stop, drop and roll', and I heard it through all the chaos of sirens and everything.

"I stopped, dropped and rolled, and the only thing still on fire was my feet. So they were on fire the longest."

The private jet crashed near the Columbia Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, (Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Sadly, the two pilots and Travis' close friends, assistant Chris Baker and security guard Charles 'Che' Still died.

Travis suffered third-degree burns on 65% of his body and spent three months in hospital, where he underwent 27 separate surgeries and multiple skin grafts.

While being fed morphine every day in hospital, the drummer had no idea that the pilots and his two pals had passed away and was unable to attend their funerals.

"I kept thinking everyone was in the hospital, including the two pilots and including my best friends. I thought everyone was in different rooms until two weeks before I left. Then I went crazy … I wasn't in a good place," he explained.

"I was kind of crazy. I was suicidal. I did a lot of post-traumatic therapy when I was in the hospital to calm things down after my surgery. Over time … I started to feel better."

He added: "Learning how to walk again and being able to take a shower by myself again … they were the good points that helped me turn a corner."

Barker, who has more than 100 tattoos that cover approximately 70% of his body had skin taken from his back from grafts on his legs.

Travis had tattoos dedicated to his friends (Instagram)

After a month or two, he decided to tattoo over the skin donor site on his back because it was discoloured and put a 'family tree' on there - with the faces of his kids.

He also got the words 'Survivor's Guilt' inked onto his arms in May last year.

Travis stopped his vegetarian diet and began eating meat to increase his protein intake and possibly speed up healing of his burns.

The drummer was soon back in the studio playing the drums again, saying it was "like riding a bike", and the accident led to a Blink-182 reunion.

However, he barely slept while suffering from PTSD and intense survivor's guilt, constantly fearing he would crash while on any mode of transport.

"I was dark," he said during an interview with Men’s Health last May. "I couldn't walk down the street. If I saw a plane [in the sky], I was determined it was going to crash, and I just didn't want to see it."

He added: "Now it's been so many years, it’s getting easier for me. There are days where I'll wake up and never think about it."

Tragically, Travis is now the only person still alive who was in the crash as Goldstein died of an accidental drug overdose the following year.

Travis didn't get on another plane again until August last year - 13 years after the devastating crash.

And he credited Kourtney Kardashian, who he married in the summer after a whirlwind romance, with giving him the strength to get back on an aircraft.

Posting a snap on Instagram of him and Kourtney hugging in front of a plane, he wrote: "With you anything is possible."

"Anything and everything with you," responded Kourtney.

Weeks later, Travis revealed that he had flown five times in a month, having previously not got on a plane for 13 years.

Since taking to the skies again, Travis has regularly visited luxurious destinations, including Italy, where he and Kourtney tied the knot in May.

In an episode of The Kardashians earlier this month, Kourtney was seen comforting Travis before they made the trip to Milan for their outfit fittings.

An understandably nervous Travis gripped onto Kourtney's hands as she asked if he wanted her to say a prayer.

While Travis leaned back and closed his eyes, Kourtney said: "“Dear Lord Jesus. Please take us from LA to Italy safely. Please give us comfort and peace.

"May Angels sit on our wings of our plane in Jesus' name. Amen."

In September this year, Travis paid tributes to his three pals on the anniversary of the plane crash on Instagram.

In the first image, Travis posted a sombre piece of artwork, which read: "Rest in Peace Lil Chris, Che DJ-AM. Never Forgotten."

The words were written around a pair of praying hands over a white cross on a black background and there were also two black roses shielding the statement.

He followed this up by posting pis of his friends before ending on a shot of him, Chris and Adam sharing a laugh.

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