Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker settles lawsuit over fatal plane crash

Travis Barker settles suit over plane crash

LOS ANGELES — Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has settled his lawsuit against several companies over a plane crash in South Carolina last year that killed four people, attorneys said Tuesday.

Barker was one of two survivors of the Sept. 19, 2008 crash that killed two pilots and two of his friends. Another survivor, celebrity disc jockey DJ AM, has since died of an accidental drug overdose.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, said William L. Robinson, an attorney representing some of the companies sued by Barker, including Learjet, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the plane’s owners and contractors.

Barker’s attorney Walter Lack confirmed the settlement but declined further comment.

Barker sued a year ago claiming the companies improperly operated and maintained the Learjet that overshot the runway and burst into flames.

The case was delayed while the National Transportation Safety Board completed its investigation into why the private plane failed to takeoff from an airport in Columbia, S.C.

Investigators found the thrust reversers — devices on the back of jet engines that divert their thrust forward, helping to slow a plane or force it backward — were not in the right position to help slow down the plane.

The pilots were trying to abort takeoff at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport when the accident happened.

Changing the design of the thrust reversing system on the Learjet 60 to make its operation more intuitive could potentially help avert such deadly crashes, the NTSB wrote as one of its six recommendations.

Barker and DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, suffered serious burns in the crash. Goldstein died in New York on Aug. 28. Medical examiners determined he died of a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs and cocaine.

His mother now controls his estate. A mediation conference is scheduled for Thursday, court filings show.

Barker filed his lawsuit along with the mother of his bodyguard, Charles Monroe Still Jr., who was killed in the crash. Still’s mother has also settled her case, court filings show.

The settlements were first reported by TMZ.com.