Barker ‘thankful to be alive’

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 an interview with Us Weekly magazine. “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 32-year-old musician 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 other passengers were killed.

Barker was released from a Georgia hospital last week and is now being treated at a burn center in Los Angeles. He said he was too afraid to fly cross-country, so he arranged to travel by bus with his father and ex-wife Shanna Moakler to keep him company.

DJ AM (real name: Adam Goldstein) was recently released from the hospital too. Doctors have said they expect both men to fully recover.

Meanwhile, Mark Ronson, Cut Chemist, Steve Aoki and other friends of DJ AM are throwing a party at the Avalon nightclub in Hollywood on Tuesday to welcome the celebrity disc jockey home. Organizers say all proceeds from the event will go to memorial funds for the crash victims.