Travis Barker Fights Back Tears as He Credits His Kids with Saving His Life After Deadly Plane Crash

Travis Barker is getting candid about the fiery accident that changed his life forever.

On Tuesday, the former Blink 182 drummer told Good Morning America what was running through his mind when his chartered Learjet crashed after takeoff in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sept. 19, 2008.

“I’m so soaked in jet fuel,” said Barker, 39. “And then we realize – you know, we’re out of the plane – and then the plane explodes.”

Barker and the late DJ AM (né Adam Michael Goldstein) were among six people aboard the Learjet, four of whom were killed. (DJ AM died of an accidental drug overdose less than a year later on Aug. 28, 2009.)

Over 65 percent of Barker’s body was severely burned and he ended up undergoing 27 surgeries.

“I stayed in burn centers for like the next four months,” Barker said. “That feels like hell.”

In his new memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums, out now, Barker admits he contemplated suicide.

“I would call friends of mine and go, ‘I’ll deposit a million dollars into whoever’s bank account,'” he said, adding that the phone had to be taken out of his room.

The rocker credits his and ex-wife Shanna Moakler‘s children – Landon, 12, and Alabama, 9 – with inspiring him to get through the pain.

“It was just hard for them to see me in the state that I was in,” he explained. “You know, they color in class. Everyone’s drawing pictures of their family or what they did on the weekend. Landon’s drawing a picture of a plane crashing.”

After fighting back tears, Barker told ABC’s Chris Connelly, “It was definitely something that he … I mean, he was old enough to understand, you know?”

The lone survivor from the crash has overcome drug addiction and released new music in the years since, but he has yet to board a flight again.

“I tell my children, ‘When you’re ready to fly, I’m ready to fly,'” he said.

Barker, whose relationship with Moakler was explored on their MTV reality show Meet the Barkers from 2005 to 2006, has most recently been linked to British singer Rita Ora, 24.

“I mean, she’s awesome,” Barker told PEOPLE earlier this month. “She’s one of those great things that happen that you’re like: ‘Whoa, wasn’t expecting that.’ And I just never second-guess it. Just enjoy it.”