Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who always has been afraid of flying, says he's glad to be alive after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash last month.
"I hate planes," Barker said in Us Weekly magazine now on newsstands. "My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened ... well, I'm just thankful to be alive! I'm just grateful to be here at all."
The Barker, 32, and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM were the only survivors of the crash just before midnight Sept. 19 at the main airport in Columbia, S.C. Two pilots and two passengers were killed, including Barker's assistant Chris Baker.
Barker was released from a Georgia hospital last week and is being treated at an Los Angeles burn center. He said he was too afraid to fly, so he traveled by bus with his father and ex-wife Shanna Moakler.
"I am doing the best I can possibly be," he said in the article. "... I've just been in surgery after surgery. I have third-degree burns basically from my feet up to my waist and both hands. One of my hands has second-degree burns and one has third-degree burns.
"I'm trying to have a quick recovery and play the drums again and be able to hold my kids again," said Barker, who has two children, Landon, 5, and Alabama, 2, with Moakler.
He hopes to leave the hospital within two weeks. DJ AM (real name: Adam Goldstein) was recently released from the hospital.
Friends of DJ AM are throwing a party Tuesday at the Avalon club in Hollywood, Calif., to welcome him home. All proceeds will go to memorial funds for the crash victims, organizers said Wednesday.
