![\"investigation](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fatal-crash-of-cessna-550-062-6946f0b36fcb2.jpg\" "\\"investigation")
<\/p>\nAn explanation for the quick return to the Statesville (N.C.) Regional Airport by the Cessna Citation 500 carrying NASCAR champion Greg Biffle, his family, and three other people has yet to be determined, but that is the focus of the investigation, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Related Story<\/p>\n
NTSB board member Michael Graham said the business jet was in the proper position for landing, stable, and its landing lights were on, but it was below the runway that\u2019s on a hill, making it too low to land safely. The aircraft\u2019s low elevation caused it to hit trees and runway approach lighting systems before crashing short of the runway. The aircraft exploded in flames as it slid across the ground and onto the runway about 10 minutes after taking off from the airport.
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\u201cI can confirm that the NTSB is aware of one brief text from a passenger on board the aircraft to a family member that read, and I quote, \u2018Emergency landing.\u2019\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe are not aware of any other communications from passengers on board the aircraft to those on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham declined to identify the family member out of respect for those who lost their loved ones in the horrific crash.<\/p>\n
People Magazine has reported that Cristina Biffle, Greg\u2019s wife, texted her mother, Cathy Grossu, shortly before the crash saying, \u201cWe\u2019re in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related Story<\/p>\n
Seven people died in the fiery crash: Biffle, his wife Cristina, his children Emma and Ryder, Craig Wadsworth, and Dennis and Jack Dutton. <\/p>\n
Graham said they still don\u2019t know who was piloting the plane. Three people on the plane, including Biffle, possessed a pilot\u2019s license. He also said weather conditions at the time didn\u2019t require an instrument landing. <\/p>\n
In Saturday\u2019s final briefing in North Carolina, Graham said the 16-person team was recovering \u201cperishable evidence\u201d and the \u201canalysis portion\u201d would begin later. Graham said the systems crew had documented several items, including the debris field and flight controls. He said they would attempt to determine the aircraft\u2019s weight balance in regard to how it was loaded. <\/p>\n
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NTSB<\/p>\n
Information from the plane\u2019s cockpit voice recorder was being retrieved Saturday at the NTSB in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n
NTSB investigators also have recovered avionics equipment, including the ground proximity warning system, and the caution and warning panel for the instrument panel. The plane\u2019s electronic systems are being sent to a laboratory in Washington, DC, to determine if the data on them can be retrieved. The maintenance logs for the plane also have been obtained. <\/p>\n
Graham said removal of the plane\u2019s wreckage would begin Saturday, and he anticipated releasing the scene to local authorities in one to two days.<\/p>\n
The NTSB is expected to release its preliminary report within 30 days; however, its final report won\u2019t be available for 12 to 18 months. <\/p>\n
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A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com<\/a>, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association\u2019s sports feature category.\u00a0 During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication\u2019s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An explanation for the quick return to the Statesville (N.C.) Regional Airport by the Cessna Citation 500 carrying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,154833,784,1642,634,154832,82],"class_list":["post-359078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-67e84c46-313c-46d3-9cd0-9ca927ddde8e","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-ntsb-releases-details-in-statesville-plane-crash","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}