A friend of the pilot who was killed in the tragic plane crash that also claimed the life of former NASCAR star Greg Biffle has claimed there was a ‘loud pop’ in the moments after takeoff.
Biffle died along with his wife, Cristina, and their two children, Emma and Ryder, when their private jet crashed in North Carolina on December 18.
Seven people lost their lives in total after the Cessna C550 jet, owned by Biffle, slammed into the runway at Statesville Regional Airport around 10.15am.
That includes Dennis Dutton – who recently retired from flying for Delta – and his son Jack Dutton and another NASCAR star Craig Wadsworth.Â
But Dennis Dutton’s former neighbor, Jonathan Donahue, has alleged that the plane made a strange noise in the moments after takeoff.Â
He told The US Sun: ‘Dennis had been flying for 40 years. I imagine it was a mechanical error because he was a great leader and such a positive person. I couldn’t imagine anything being his fault.
Greg Biffle died with wife Cristina and five others in a North Carolina plane crash in DecemberÂ
Seven lost their lives after Biffle’s jet slammed into the runway at Statesville Regional Airport
‘All I know is that there was a large, loud pop, like something broke on the plane at takeoff, and he immediately had to turn around and make an emergency landing.’Â
Biffle’s friend, the former NASCAR racer Kenny Wallace, also suggested that a motor issue in the plane caused the death of his close friend.Â
‘Here’s what I think,’ he said on his YouTube channel. ‘I think the plane took off, I think they lost a motor, and then, I guess it started having a lot of drag on it. In other words… yes, we know it should fly just perfectly with one motor.
‘I think we lost a motor. That’s where all the up and down was taking place. They decide to come back. The flaps are down, and they don’t have any horsepower.Â
‘There was so much drag and they had the throttle wide open, they just didn’t make it. I think that’s what happened. They just didn’t make it to the runway.
‘May the Lord be with everybody, this is a very heartfelt discussion. It was a very tragic loss. Everybody wants to know what happened. I think it was a tragic loss of life and that’s what I respectfully think is what happened.Â
‘It has been a sad, sad couple of weeks here with the Greg Biffle tragedy.’Â
An investigation to establish the exact cause of the tragedy is underway. It appears that the traveling party knew something was wrong as Biffle’s mother-in-law, Cathy Grossu, told People she received a text from her daughter moments before the crash which said: ‘We’re in trouble.’
Seven died in the North Carolina inferno, including Biffle’s two children
Grossu added: ‘She texted me from the plane and she said, “We’re in trouble.” And that was it. So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.’Â
The plane initially took off from the airport then circled back before the deadly landing, meaning there might have been a mechanical issue, WCNC’s chief meteorologist Brad Panovich, said after looking at public flight data.Â
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) told the Daily Mail that the Cessna C550 crashed while attempting to land.Â
Cristina’s mom added that the group were heading to Florida for a ‘birthday trip’ when the horrifying crash occurred.
‘To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,’ she added. ‘And to see the horrific way that it ended, it’s just, it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.’
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‘Loud pop’ was heard moments before horrific plane crash that killed NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and six others