2008 South Carolina Learjet 60 crash


On the night of September 19, 2008, a Learjet 60 business jet (registration crashed during take-off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. The aircraft overran the runway end, crashed through the airport boundary fence, crossed South Carolina Highway 302, and came to rest onto an embankment, bursting into flames.
Four of the six people on board died in the crash. The survivors, musician Travis Barker 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, after their TRV$DJAM band's performance at a concert in Five Points.

Victims and survivors

Pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, California and co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, California were both killed, as were two others.
Barker and Goldstein escaped the plane and told first responders four others were on board. Both suffered second and third degree burns.

Investigation

On the cockpit voice recorder the pilot indicates she is reacting to the apparent sound of a tire burst and attempting a rejected takeoff. Pieces of a tire were found at the crash site. The plane did not carry a flight data recorder.
The National Transportation Safety Board's report attributed the accident to tire bursts during take-off and the pilot's resulting decision to abort at high speed. Several tires were severely under-inflated and punctured during take-off. 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 co-pilot 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.

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.