KOURTNEY Kardashian’s husband Travis Barker has mourned the loss of his three best friends with a series of heartbreaking posts.
The Blink-182 drummer, along with friends Chris Baker, Charles “Che” Still, and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, were involved in a plane crash in September of 2008.
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Travis, 46, and DJ AM were the only surviving passengers of the September 19th flight.
Tragically, Goldstein died a year later due to an overdose as he struggled to cope with the impact of such a horrifying event.
Today, the rockstar drummer shared several snaps on his Instagram Stories in tribute to his fallen friends.
The first post is of artwork dedicated to his loved ones and shows a pair of praying hands over a white cross on a black background.
Decorative cursive text around the cross reads, “Rest in Peace” and “Never Forgotten.”
A Banner beneath of hands houses each of the deceased names; “Lil Chris, Che, and DJ-AM.”
The following posts show of each of Travis’s friends with the final photo depicting Travis, Chris, and DJ AM sharing a laugh together.
THE CRASH
In September 2008, Barker was traveling to California from South Carolina alongside friend and DJ Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein when their jet crashed during take-off.
The aircraft in question was a Learjet 60 that had just two years’ worth of flying experience before the incident, though it did boast 108.5 flight hours with 123 take-off and landing cycles.
Captain of the jet was 31-year-old Sarah Lemmon, who had received several notices of disapprovals during her training process.
The aircraft misjudged the distance of the runway, overran the runway end, and crashed through the airport boundary fence.
The plane crossed South Carolina Highway 302 and came to rest on to an embankment, before bursting into flames.
Both pilots of the aircraft were killed, while Barker and Goldstein suffered horrendous second and third-degree burns.
The two survivors, alongside the estates of two of the deceased, sued for damages from both the company behind the aircraft – Learjet – as well as tire manufacturer Goodyear, who they deemed responsible after the accident was sparked by one of the jet’s tires exploding – causing Lemmon to try and abort the take-off at high speed.
Four of the six people on board died in the crash, with Barker and Goldstein critically injured.
Pilot Lemmon and first officer James Bland lost their lives along with passengers Charles Monroe Still, Jr. and Chris Baker.
OPENING UP
Barker has rarely spoken of the incident that left him diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but he did relive the horror moment on the Joe Rogan podcast in late 2019.
The drummer 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 (after).
“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.”
Sixty-five percent of the drummer’s body was badly burnt and Barker did face the daunting prospect of potentially having his right foot amputated.
He said: “My right foot almost didn’t make it, that was the thing that was most soaked was my shoes and socks.
“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.”
Barker would go on to spend over eleven weeks in hospital after the incident, in which he endured 26 surgeries and skin grafts.
He revealed to Rogan the damaging impact this had on his mental health, stating: “After my accident … I was four months in a hospital being fed morphine every day.
“When I was in the hospital, I was on so many drugs I didn’t even know my two friends had passed away. I didn’t know the pilots had passed away. I didn’t remember anything.
“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.
“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.”
Barker has since flown again for the first time since the crash — with his famous wife, Kourtney Kardashian, in August 2021.
ANOTHER LOSS
Recently, Canadian streetwear designer and Travis’s former business partner, Johan “Yo” Esbensen, tragically took his own life.
Johan founded the California-based brand Rogue Status/DTA in 2005 and later brought Travis in as an investor and partner.
The drummer would later boast in his memoir that the firm made “between $4 million and $10 million” in the first year.
Although the business – whose initials stand for Don’t Trust Anyone – was later dissolved, Travis resurrected the name for a record label he started in December 2019.
He was spotted this summer in Malibu with his wife Kourtney while sporting a black DTA t-shirt.
Now friends and relatives have told The US Sun that Esbensen killed himself last year, aged 45, after struggling with his mental health and a failed relationship with a Victoria’s Secret model.
Travis appeared shocked by the death and posted a RIP message for his former partner on social media.
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