WASHINGTON — Underinflated tires — a problem that may be widespread on business jets — caused a Learjet crash in 2008 that killed four people and seriously injured drummer Travis Barker of the rock group Blink 182 and the celebrity disc jockey DJ AM, federal safety investigators said Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board also said a design flaw in the Learjet 60 and a decision by the flight’s captain to abort takeoff in Columbia, S.C., were also at fault in the accident.
Investigators told the board they found that operators of air charters often aren’t aware how rapidly the tires of some business jets can lose pressure and aren’t checking tire pressure frequently enough.
On Sept. 19, 2008, as the plane hurtled down the runway at about 150 mph, all four tires of the plane exploded only seconds apart. Pieces of the tires damaged the plane’s hydraulic system, causing the brakes to fail.
The flight’s captain, who had just 35 hours of experience flying a Learjet 60, made a split-second decision to abort the takeoff even though the plane had already exceeded the speed at which the takeoff could be safely rejected, investigators said. Pilots are trained not to halt a takeoff after reaching a certain speed as long as the plane is still capable of flight.
