Travis Barker has credited his girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian with helping him fly again almost 13 years after surviving a deadly plane crash that claimed the lives of four people.
The Blink-182 drummer set foot on a plane for the first time since the 2008 crash as he jetted off to Cabo San Lucas over the weekend with his girlfriend, her mother Kris Jenner, and her partner Corey Gamble.
Taking to Instagram, Travis posted a photo of himself holding his girlfriend as they posed in front of Kylie Jenner’s jet.
‘With you anything is possible,’ Travis captioned the photo.
Travis Barker has credited his girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian with helping him fly again almost 13 years after surviving a deadly plane crash that claimed the lives of four people
The couple appeared on the verge of sharing a kiss as Kourtney wrapped her legs around her boyfriend.
She wore a satiny yellow dress while her beau opted for a black tank top and ripped jeans.
Travis hasn’t been able to set foot on an airplane following the deadly plane crash in 2008 in South Carolina in which he was one of only two survivors.
The plane crash happened on September 19, 2008 – Travis boarded a private jet in South Carolina to head back to Los Angeles following a show, while accompanied by his friend Adam ‘DJ AM’ Goldstein, his security guard Charles ‘Che’ Still, and his assistant Chris Baker.
Facing his fears: Barker pictured arriving to Cabo on Saturday after setting foot on a plane for the first time in nearly 13 years
As the small plane was attempting to take off, one of its tires suffered a blow out, causing the craft to overshoot the runway, burst through the airport’s fence and over the nearby highway, and finally crash into the embankment on the side of the road.
The pilot, Sarah Lemmon, and the co-pilot, James Bland, were killed within minutes from smoke inhalation and burns as the plane erupted into flames on impact, according to the Chicago Tribune. Still and Baker were also killed on impact.
Travis and Adam were able to escape from the burning plane via an emergency exit over the wing, but both were engulfed in flames as they slid down the wing and got covered in burning jet fuel.
Support system: Kourtney and Travis traveled to Cabo on board Kylie Jenner’s jet
The drummer had third-degree burns over 65 percent of his body and had to spend three months in the hospital while having skin grafts and 26 surgeries to repair the damage.
Kylie’s jet – which Travis and Kourtney travelled to Cabo on and was purchased from Global Express before the start of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The quasi-billionaire doesn’t just use it for her own purposes, but she regularly lets her sisters and mother travel on it across the globe.
The jet cost her a whopping $72.8 million, and jets of its size cost around $5 million per year to operate, according to Page Six.
Tragedy: Travis hasn’t been able to set foot on an airplane following the deadly plane crash in 2008 in South Carolina in which he was one of only two survivors (the aftermath of the crash in 2008)
Kylie opted for a Global Express Jet, which is larger than a Learjet and can fly longer distances, but its increased size also means that it is too big to land at many private air fields.
Travis ‘seemed a little bit nervous’ before commencing his first flight in 13 years.
A source told E! News: ‘Travis took his time and definitely seemed a little bit nervous. Kourtney was very supportive and helped him every step of the way. She made him feel comfortable on Kylie’s plane with pilots they know and the large size of the plane.’
And insiders revealed the drummer’s loved ones were ‘excited’ for him to conquer his fears.
Fiery crash: The pilot, Sarah Lemmon, and the co-pilot, James Bland, were killed within minutes from smoke inhalation and burns as the plane erupted into flames on impact in Columbia, South Carolina. Security guard Charles ‘Che’ Still and assistant Chris Baker were also killed on impact – seen in 2008
The source said: ‘This has been something that Travis has been working on for some time. It’s something he’s wanted to do and to overcome. Kourtney has been incredibly loving and supportive and it is through her love, help and confidence in him that he was able to finally do this. The people that have been close to Travis since his crash are so very excited for him.
‘His life has completely changed since he has been with Kourtney and he feels ready to do anything. She’s helped him overcome this fear and he feels like he can do anything with her by his side. He has been wanting to fly for a while and he felt like finally the time was right.’
Back in June, Travis shocked his fans when he tweeted that he might ride on an airplane in the future.
He tweeted, ‘I might fly again,’ and his fans quickly launched adoring tweets in support of him returning to the sky.
Travis has recently been opening up about the trauma he experienced during his 2008 plane crash.
In a May interview with Men’s Health, he shared that the crash helped motivate him to stop abusing prescription drugs.
‘People are always like, “Did you go to rehab?” he recounted. ‘And I [say], “No, I was in a plane crash.” That was my rehab. Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call. If I wasn’t in a crash, I would have probably never quit.’
After the crash, Travis was overcome with a debilitating fear even at the sight of an airplane.
‘I was dark… 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,’ he said, adding that he was ‘haunted’ by the experience of ‘being burned’ and ‘trying to grab my friends from a burning plane.’
But he also struck a more hopeful note now that nearly 13 years have passed since the crash.
‘Now it’s been so many years, it’s getting easier for me. There are days where I’ll wake up and never think about it,’ he said.
‘She’s helped him overcome this fear’: Kourtney was by Travis’ side as they jetted off to Cabo