On the night of September 19, 2008, a
Learjet 60
The Learjet 60 is a mid-size cabin, medium-range business jet aircraft manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace in Wichita, Kansas. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW305A engines, it has a range (with 4 passengers and 2 crew) of with NBAA ...
business jet (
registration
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
operating for Global Exec Aviation crashed during take-off from
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Columbia Metropolitan Airport is the main commercial airport for Columbia and the Midlands region of South Carolina, United States. The airport is located in West Columbia, southwest of Columbia, in Lexington County. It is surrounded by the ...
in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
.
Four of the six people on board died in the crash. The survivors, musician
Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transpla ...
and disc jockey
Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, were critically injured.
The jet had been due to fly Barker, Goldstein, and their entourage to
Van Nuys, California
Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
History
In 1909, ...
, after their
TRV$DJAM
TRV$DJAM was a collaboration project between Travis Barker of Blink-182 and Adam Goldstein, a.k.a. DJ AM. They performed their first show on June 25, 2008 at the Roxy and released a mix tape online in August 2008 titled ''Fix Your Face''. In Jun ...
band's performance at a concert in
Five Points.
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved was a
Learjet 60
The Learjet 60 is a mid-size cabin, medium-range business jet aircraft manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace in Wichita, Kansas. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW305A engines, it has a range (with 4 passengers and 2 crew) of with NBAA ...
that had first flown in 2006, receiving its airworthiness certificate on December 14. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW305A turbofan engines and had 108.5 flight hours with 123 take off and landing cycles.
The captain was Sarah Lemmon, 31, of
Anaheim Hills, California
Anaheim Hills is a planned community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California.
History
Prior to the development, a few scattered low-density neighborhoods existed in the area, including Peralta Hills ...
and the first officer was James Bland, 52, of
Carlsbad, California
Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...
. Both pilots had joined Global Exec Aviation the same year of the accident.
Captain Lemmon had 3,140 flight hours, but only 35 of them were on the Learjet 60, and just eight of them were as a captain of that aircraft. An instructor described her as having "excellent" crew resource management. However, she had received several notices of disapprovals during her training.
First Officer Bland had 8,200 flight hours with 300 of them on the Learjet 60. The director of Global Exec Aviation, who had flown with both crew members of the accident flight, described Bland as "not overly assertive."
Accident
Just before midnight, the plane was heading down the runway for takeoff when the occupants heard a loud bang.
According to the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
, air traffic controllers saw sparks emanating from the plane.
The pilots told the control tower that a tire had blown out and they would be aborting the take-off.
Barker and Goldstein stated that the aircraft felt "out of control" and was swaying back and forth.
The aircraft overran the runway end, crashed through the airport boundary fence, crossed
South Carolina Highway 302
South Carolina Highway 302 (SC 302) is an state highway in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The highway travels through mostly rural areas of Aiken and Lexington counties and connects the Aiken with the Columbia metropolitan areas, v ...
, and came to rest on an embankment, bursting into flames.
It took firefighters more than an hour to get the fire under control.
Victims and survivors
Both pilots were killed, as well as passengers Charles Monroe Still, Jr. and Chris Baker.
The pilot and co-pilot died from
smoke inhalation
Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...
and burns minutes after the crash.
Passengers Still, Jr. and Baker died upon impact.
Barker and Goldstein escaped the plane and told first responders four others were on board. Both had second and third degree burns and received
skin grafts
Skin grafting, a type of graft surgery, involves the transplantation of skin. The transplanted tissue is called a skin graft.
Surgeons may use skin grafting to treat:
* extensive wounding or trauma
* burns
* areas of extensive skin loss du ...
.
Goldstein was asleep at the time of the crash and woke up to Barker screaming.
Barker opened the door to the plane and slid down the plane's wing.
Goldstein jumped out after him.
Goldstein was on fire, but was able to put out the flames by rolling on the ground.
Barker stated that he was covered in jet fuel, and started running and ripping off his clothes.
Eventually, he heard someone tell him to
stop, drop and roll
Stop, drop and roll is a simple fire safety technique taught to children, emergency service personnel and industrial workers as a component of health and safety training in English-speaking North America, and most other English-speaking countries ...
, which put out most of the fire on his body.
Barker had burns on sixty-five percent of his body and was in the hospital for eleven weeks following the accident.
He has
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
,
and did not fly on a plane again until August 2021.
Investigation
On the
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR) the pilot indicates she is reacting to the apparent sound of a tire burst and attempting a
rejected takeoff
In aviation terminology, a rejected takeoff (RTO) or aborted takeoff is the situation in which it is decided to abort the takeoff of an airplane.
There can be many reasons for deciding to perform a rejected takeoff, but they are usually due to a ...
. Pieces of a tire were found at the crash site. The plane did not carry a
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(FDR).
The
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
's (NTSB) report attributed the accident to tire bursts during take-off and the captain's resulting decision to abort at high speed.
Several tires were severely under-inflated and punctured during take-off.
Pieces of the tires damaged the plane's hydraulic system, causing the plane's brakes to fail.
The captain aborted at . The normal operating procedure for Learjet 60s is never to abort above the "go/no-go" decision speed
V1, which for this particular take-off was .
The captain therefore aborted the takeoff after
V1, violating these operating procedures. The first officer can be heard saying the appropriate "go go go" on the CVR. A contributing factor was the engines giving full power, even though the pilots were applying reverse thrust. The reason for this was the aircraft's air/ground sensor was damaged by debris and caused the sensor to go to "air" mode. Investigators also found that the captain had limited experience in the Learjet 60 and that the company's tire pressure inspections were inadequate.
Global Exec Aviation estimated that the tire pressure had been checked three weeks before the crash, but investigators stated that the type of tires on the Learjet 60 at the time lose approximately two percent of their pressure per day and would need to be replaced after eight days if they were not properly maintained.
Additionally, investigators noted a design flaw in the thrust reverser system which the NTSB believed may have contributed, increasing the severity of the crash.
Lawsuits
Both survivors, as well as the estates of two of the deceased, sued for damages from parties including
Learjet, tire manufacturer
Goodyear, and, in at least Goldstein's case, against the estates of the dead pilots. Barker's case was
settled out of court
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
in December 2009 and the terms of the settlement are confidential.
The estates of Still, Jr. and Baker also reached settlements.
Global Exec Aviation and ITAS, Inc. also filed a lawsuit against Learjet and
Bombardier, the manufacturers of the plane.
The owner of the plane also sued the Columbia Metropolitan airport.
See also
*
TWA Flight 843
TWA Flight 843 (TW843, TWA843) was a scheduled Trans World Airlines passenger flight that crashed after an aborted takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport ( New York) to San Francisco International Airport (California) in July 1992 ...
, another high-speed aborted take-off
*
Spantax Flight 995, another aircraft that aborted take-off after passing V1
References
External links
"NTSB: Tire blowout likely to blame" thestate.com
"Dashboard video shows fiery wreckage of plane crash"Archive wistv.com
"Four die in plane crash; rock star, DJ survive"latimes.com
"Dramatic Video: Moments After Travis Barker's Plane Crash"etonline.com
NTSB investigation docket
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Carolina Learjet 60 Crash, 2008
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2008
Accidents and incidents involving the Learjet 45 family
History of Columbia, South Carolina
Lexington County, South Carolina
Disasters in South Carolina
Airliner accidents and incidents in South Carolina
2008 in South Carolina
September 2008 events in the United States