Travis Barker Details Daughter Alabama’s Ominous Warning Before 2008 Plane Crash

Nearly two decades later, Barker is revisiting the eerie warning signs he brushed aside before boarding — including a chilling premonition from his then-2-year-old daughter.

Travis Barker is looking back on the small details surrounding the plane crash that nearly claimed his life in 2008. The Blink-182 drummer was one of only two survivors of the incident, which tragically killed four other people who were also on board.

Travis Barker at EA's "Battlefield 6" Reveal Celebration held at the Sunset Room on July 31, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images

Almost two decades later, Barker says he nearly skipped the flight altogether to spend more time with his kids, Atiana De La Hoya, 27, Landon Barker, 22, and Alabama Barker, 20, whom he shares with ex-wife Shanna Moakler.

"I'd said to my manager, 'Is it too late to just pull out? I don't really need to do this,'" Barker recalled during a recent appearance on Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast. "I was just so content with being home with the kiddos, and he's like, 'Bro, you can't cancel this late.'"

Travis Barker, daughter Alabama, son Landon and stepdaughter Atiana attend the "Puss In Boots" Los Angeles Premiere at Regency Village Theatre on October 23, 2011 in Westwood, California. | Source: Getty Images

"So, I ended up flying out there," he said. At the time, his youngest daughter, then just 2 years old, said something he still hasn't forgotten.

"I say bye to Bama. She's young at the time," he continued. "She's like, 'Dad, don't go!' She's bawling and she doesn't usually do that. She's like, 'The roof's gonna come off,' and I'm like, 'What is she talking about?'"

Barker and DJ AM (real name Adam Goldstein) — his collaborator in the project TRV$DJAM from 2008 to 2009 — had flown to South Carolina to perform alongside Gavin DeGraw and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell.

DJ AM and Musician Travis Barker perform at The Roxy on June 25, 2008 in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images

"I get there, play our show, and then we're supposed to leave the next morning," he explained, "but everyone else that was with me was in a hurry to get home. So, we booked a private plane, super last minute."

Barker rarely took chances when it came to chartering flights. "There's usually a bunch of hoops to jump through to book me a plane because even back then, without an accident, I was like, 'Who's the pilot? Has the plane been maintenanced?'" he said.

"I want to know everything, and none of that stuff happened. We get to the airport around 11 or midnight. It's foggy and then there's one plane in the distance that's really small," he continued.

DJ AM and musician Travis Barker arrive at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards at Paramount Pictures Studios on September 7 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images

Unsettled by the setup, the musician called his father, Randy Barker, to talk through his growing unease. "I had an awful feeling," he shared. "My dad was like, 'You're gonna be fine. Just get on the plane. Call me when you get home.'"

Although he agreed to board, Barker couldn't shake his nerves. "I knew something feels off," he added. "I even told my dad, 'If something happens to me, please make sure the kids are taken care of.' I was saying way too much. All the signs were there."

Barker and Goldstein ended up being the only survivors of the crash, which killed the plane's two pilots along with Barker's assistant, Chris Baker, and his security guard, Charles Still Jr.

Officials wait to investigate a private jet crash carrying six people near the Columbia Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday, September 20, 2008. | Source: Getty Images

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The musician said his "whole body" caught fire as he tried to escape the wreckage, an ordeal that led to six months of recovery in a burn center.

Investigators later told the National Transportation Safety Board in 2010 that pieces of the plane's tires had broken off mid-takeoff, damaging the hydraulic system and causing both the brakes and thrust reversers to fail.

Reflecting on the tragedy 18 years on, Barker admitted he'd handle those instincts differently today. "Older me would just say, 'I think I'm not going to get on the plane,'" he said. "Everything was there, and I'd never felt like that before."