Travis Barker "critical" after plane crash...

[Psycho Circus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080920/ap_on_re_us/learjet_crash

[Mr. DS]

I heard this from my wife when I got home.  Never was a fan of Blink 182 music but hope all will be well.  I think aircraft have killed more people in music than drugs/alcohol. 

[Psycho Circus]

Yeah, I'm not a fan either, he's a good drummer though and it all sounds pretty brutal. 

[Torgo]

They have since upgraded his status to stable and he's expected to make a full recovery.

[ulthar]

That crash happened here, and now we have the local pilots adding their two cents (and blind speculation) about the crash.

Channel 57 News last night interviewed one such "expert," and his big contribution was the following statement.  Yes, I'm quoting verbatim.

"Something happened."

[HappyGilmore]

I like Blink 182, but I'm not a 'hardcore' fan of the music.  I think Barker's talented though, and glad to see that he's supposedly gonna make a full recovery.

[Mr. DS]

Side note, RIP to all those who died in the crash. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Tentatively, a witness spotted sparks coming from the plane, as it was taking off, which makes them think a tire blew on take-off. The pilot tried to abort take-off, but it was too late.

[ulthar]

Tentatively, a witness spotted sparks coming from the plane, as it was taking off, which makes them think a tire blew on take-off. The pilot tried to abort take-off, but it was too late.

Haven't heard the news today, but as of last night they were reporting here that tire debris was found on the runway, but no one as yet wanted to commit if that was causal, contributory or unrelated.

But, here's the thing.  The debris was found about 2800 or so feet from the end of a runway that's over 8000 feet long.  If she (the pilot) had wanted to abort, she should have had plenty of room to do so.

At least that's what was reported on local news last night. As of last night, NONE of this info was coming from NTSB.