Carlsbad Pilot Dies In Learjet Crash

This morning news that former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein had survived a South Carolina Learjet crash in which four others had died had the world wondering who else was on the plane.

Now, sadly, the story has come home to Carlsbadistan. Carlsbad resident James Bland, 52, a co-pilot on the Global Exec Aviation jet, was one of the four people who died in the fiery crash, according to a story in the LA Times.

A family man, Bland shared his Carlsbad home with his wife Anne, 46, and 16-year-old daughter, Erin. The eldest of three children, he assumed a patriarchal role after his father died at 59. “He was like a father to me,” Laura said. “If there was ever an emergency in the family, he always was the first to try to fix it. . . Relatives of pilot James Bland, 52, gathered today at the home of his younger sister, Laura Bland, in Redondo Beach. “He always said this could happen,” Laura Bland said in a phone interview. “He lost a couple of friends in different accidents, but of anybody we knew, he was just so conscientious that we didn’t expect this at all.”

Our thoughts are with the Bland family and friends during this time of sadness.

[Link: Los Angeles Times]