Travis Barker Joins Kourtney K For First Flight Since Surviving Deadly Crash
Travis Barker flew this weekend for the first time since surviving a 2008 plane crash
Travis Barker survived a plane crash 13 years ago that killed four people and left him needing 27 surgeries. Since then, he has been understandably reluctant to fly. Well, it seems he’s overcome the fear enough to climb aboard an aircraft again for a trip with girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian.
According to TMZ, who published photos of the couple boarding Kylie Jenner’s private jet for a trip to Cabo, Barker arrived an hour late for the flight and held Kourtney’s hand as they got on the plane. They traveled with Kris Jenner and her boyfriend, Corey Gamble.
Back in September 2008, Barker had played a show in South Carolina with friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein. Afterward, the pair boarded a private plane with two good friends: assistant Chris Baker and security guard Charles Still. What followed was absolutely horrifying — the plane’s tires blew during takeoff and the craft was out of control, skidding across a nearby highway and eventually bursting into flame. Barker and Goldstein managed to get out through an emergency exit but Barker was drenched in jet fuel and had caught on fire. Goldstein helped put it out using his own shirt. Baker and Still passed away in the crash along with the plane’s two pilots.
Barker says he already had a lifelong fear of flying and after the terrifying and tragic accident where he sustained burns over 65 percent of his body, he was understandably done with air travel. He spent three months in the hospital and could’t even attend his friends’ funerals. To add to the heartbreak, Goldstein died a year later from a drug overdose leaving Barker as the sole remaining survivor of the plane crash.
“The plane’s on fire and my hands are on fire so I unbuckle my seat belt and I jump right into the jet, which holds all the fuel,” Travis told Good Morning America back in 2015. “I basically ignited my whole body in fire. I’m so soaked in jet fuel, there’s nothing I can do to put the fire out.”
So it’s obviously very understandable if Barker never wanted to fly ever again. According to Men’s Health, Barker had to undergo months of therapy for his injuries, even having to relearn how to walk and drum. Yesterday, a source told People how meaningful Barker’s recent flight really is. “It’s a huge deal that Travis flew to Cabo,” the source shares. “The plane crash many years ago was extremely traumatizing. He has needed a lot of help to get to this point.”
The source added, “Kourtney has been very supportive. She never pushed for him to fly. They have managed to travel in the US without having to fly and Kourtney has been totally fine with it.”
In his interview with Men’s Health, Barker opened up about his survivor’s guilt and the PTSD he’s experienced in the years after the crash. “I was dark,” he said of the period right after the crash. “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.”
It seems this flight was quite awhile in the making as Barker tweeted back in June that he “might fly again.”
With Kourtney supporting him, Barker did exactly that.
