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Sat, Sep 20, 2008

Four Lost In Learjet 60 Takeoff Downing

Survivors Include Former Blink-182 Drummer

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 09.19.08 1800 EDT: ABC News has released the identities of the two pilots lost in the Friday night takeoff crash of a chartered Learjet 60.

The bodies of pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31 and co-pilot James Bland, 52 were identified by Lexington County Coroner Harry O. Harman. Both pilots were based in southern California.

A witness to the accident told CNN he saw two men 'get dumped' out of the plane as it impacted a berm across a road from the end of the runway at Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) in South Carolina, and burst into flames. Their clothes were on fire, and both men were patting down each other to try to put out the flames.

Officials believe the men were the only two survivors of the crash -- former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, and Hollywood party DJ Adam Goldberg. Both were among the performers at a free concert Friday night in Columbia's Five Points district.

Photos of the wreckage show the plane's fuselage split in half, just forward of the plane's rear-mounted turbofans.

"I didn't know what I had seen -- it was maybe 800 feet in front of me, but as I approached it closer though, I made out a fire. By then I was able to see the tail of the jet and I recognized it as a jet," said William Owens, who told WIS-TV he was driving down the highway when he saw the plane crash.

Authorities confirmed Saturday afternoon the identities of the final two victims of the accident. Chris Baker and Charles Still were members of Barker's entourage.

Original Report

0830 EDT: Details are sketchy about the circumstances surrounding the Friday night downing of a Learjet 60 business jet on takeoff from Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) in South Carolina... but we do know that both of the business jet's pilots were lost in the accident, as were two of the four passengers onboard.

The Learjet 60 (N999LJ) crashed on take-off at 2353 EDT, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The plane was registered to Inter Travel and Services of Irvine, CA, and was approximately two years old.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told The Associated Press controllers saw sparks as the plane rolled down the runway. She says the plane went off the runway and crashed into a berm across the road from the airport.

There is no record of an IFR flight plan filed for the accident flight. Bergen said the Lear's destination was Van Nuys, CA.

The NTSB has dispatched a Go Team to investigate the accident. NTSB Senior Air Safety Investigator Bill English has been designated as Investigator-in-Charge. Board Member Debbie Hersman will serve as principal spokesman during the on-scene investigation; Hersman fulfilled the same role during the investigation of the August 2006 crash of Comair 191 from Lexington, KY.

The Safety Board's 11-member team includes two representatives from the Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance. Peter Knudson will accompany the team as press officer.

Both of the survivors were admitted to an Augusta, GA hospital with critical burns. MSNBC reports one of the survivors is Travis Barker, the former drummer for the rock band Blink 182. The second survivor has been tentatively identified as Adam Michael Goldstein, a popular club performer known as DJ AM.

Both were believed to have performed Friday night at a downtown music event in South Carolina. The identities of the four others onboard have not been release as of yet.

According to online flight tracking service FlightAware.com, the Lear arrived at CAE from Teterboro, NJ less than an hour before the accident. Records show that on September 12, the Lear diverted back to TEB shortly after takeoff, originally bound for to Tulsa, OK.

The plane's next listed flight was on Thursday, what appears to have been a 47-minute checkout flight that originated and terminated at TEB. That was the aircraft's last flight, prior to Friday's trip to CAE.

ANN will update this story as more information becomes available.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov

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