The apparent cause of the plane crash in South Carolina that killed four people and left two in critical condition seems to be a tire blowing out as reported by People Magazine.
Pilot Sarah Lemmon and co-pilot James Bland were killed, along with passengers Chris Parker and Charles Still.
Barker and Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, escaped and are in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit at a Georgia hospital.
Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington said: “The cockpit voice recorder went on for two hours, but the last 18 minutes were most pertinent, because those words proved that it was a tire blowout that may have caused the crash killing four people.
“After getting their clearance from Air Traffic Control, the plane only got 80 knots on the 8,600-foot runway before the incident.”
Hersman continued to say: “The Air Traffic Control tapes stated that they gave the crew clearance to depart, as well as the wind speeds. The tapes went on to say they saw sparks and heard the crew on the plane explaining that they were going off of the runway.
“We are doing a lot more investigating because, while it is not uncommon to blow a tire it is rare for something like that to end in a fatal accident.”