Travis Barker Skipping Blink-182 Australian Tour Due to Fear of Flying After Crash
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(NEW YORK) — Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who survived a plane crash nearly five years ago, posted on Facebook that he will be skipping the pop-punk group’s Australian tour because he has a fear of flying.
“I still haven’t gotten over the horrific events that took place the last time i flew when my plane crashed and 4 people were killed, two being my best friends,” Barker, 37, wrote on Facebook.
He said he gave his blessing to his band mates to choose a drummer to fill in for him. Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion and Tenacious D will fill in for Barker on the tour, which begins on Feb. 23 in Brisbane.
“I hope to come to Australia again some day perhaps by ship if need be. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a boat that worked with the schedule this time around,” Barker wrote. “Once again I’m sorry to all the fans.”
The band also made a statement on Facebook and said cancelling on their Australian fans was “not an option.”
“The band knew the chances of Travis overcoming his fear of flying … would be a challenge, but we wanted to play for our fans in Australia nonetheless,” said a post on the Blink-182 Facebook page.
Last year, Barker traveled by ship to Europe for a Blink-182 reunion tour.
Barker and the late Adam Goldstein, who performed under the name DJ AM, were the only survivors when a Learjet taking them home to California crashed on takeoff in Columbia, S.C., in September 2008.
The two pilots, and Barker’s security guard and assistant were all killed in the crash. Goldstein died in 2009 of an apparent drug overdose.
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