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Wash. state pilot dies in SC plane crash
05:01 PM PDT on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Sarah Lemmon
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The pilot of a Learjet who died when the plane crashed on takeoff in South Carolina on Friday night has been identified as Sarah Lemmon, a 1995 graduate of Mount Vernon High School.
Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM survived the Friday night crash with second- and third-degree burns. One of their doctors at a Georgia burn hospital said he expects them to fully recover.
Lemmon and co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, Calif., died of smoke inhalation and burns within minutes of the crash into an embankment about a quarter-mile from the end of the airport's runway. A South Carolina coroner has said Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, Calif.; and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles, close friends of the musicians, died on impact.
Lemmon had been living in Anaheim Hills, Calif. Her mother, Suellen Lemmon, is a resident of La Conner.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said they have not determined what caused the crash. However, they said a cockpit voice recorder revealed that crew members thought a tire blew and tried to abort the takeoff but couldn't stop the plane. The Learjet 60 shot off the end of the runway, ripped through a fence and crossed a highway before coming to rest, engulfed in flames.
A video of the crash scene released by police Monday shows an inferno next to the road and screams can be heard above the din of sirens of ambulances and fire trucks. It is not clear who is screaming.
A firefighter said it took more than an hour to get the blaze under control.









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