UPDATE: Saturday, December 20th
On Saturday, December 20th, at 11:00 AM ET, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held its second and final on-site media briefing regarding the Thursday airplane accident that claimed the life of Greg Biffle and six others.
Amongst the key takeaways:
- The reason for the plane’s return to the airport is still unknown.
- Several witness statements have been collected by investigators.
- The airplane was stable on its approach and in landing configuration, but came in very low. After looking at videos of the incident, that was the only thing that seemed out of the ordinary.
- The investigators are “fairly confident” about the identity of the pilot, but need to verify that information first. They are also attempting to identify who was sitting where on the plane at the time of the incident.
- The NTSB has been able to confirm that there was one text sent from the plane, which said “emergency landing”. The identity of the person who sent the text will not be revealed at this time.
- The cockpit voice recorder has arrived in Washington, and the NTSB will be attempting to recover the data from it today.
- The investigators are also now in possession of the aircraft’s maintenance logs.
- The wreckage will be removed from the airport beginning today. Saturday’s briefing will serve as the final one from the scene of the incident.
As the NASCAR industry continues to mourn the sudden loss of retired NASCAR Cup Series driver Greg Biffle, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is working diligently to investigate the cause of the airplane accident that claimed his life, as well as the lives of his wife, Cristina, his two children, and three others.
The NTSB held a ‘media briefing’ on Friday about the incident that occurred in the early morning hours of Thursday, December 18. With the government agency in the early stages of the process, it was made clear that there would be no speculation on this incident.
According to Member Graham, a preliminary report about the accident will likely be published somewhere in the area of 30 days, while the official investigation will likely last somewhere in the 12-to-18-month range.
Dan Baker, lead investigator of the incident, says that the airplane departed the Statesville Regional Airport from Runway 10 at 10:05 AM, approximately 10 minutes before the accident occurred. Upon getting airborne, the plane made a left turn west, before making another left turn east towards the airport, about five minutes after taking off.
Baker says that the initial point of impact for the accident was a runway light stanchion that was located about 1,800 feet from the runway threshold. Throughout the crash, the aircraft impacted several trees, two additional light stanchions, and the airport perimeter fence before coming to rest near the runway threshold.
The NTSB remains early in its investigation process, but says that it is unable to, at this time, determine who was piloting the aircraft — a Cessna 550 Citation. However, of the seven people on-board, none of whom survived, three of them held pilot’s licenses.
When the aircraft crashed, the entire fuselage, plus all four corners of the plane, were engulfed in flames. Despite the massive fire, the NTSB was able to recover the black box cockpit voice recorder, which is currently on its way back to Washington, D.C. to be examined further. The plane was not required to have a video data recorder, and thus, didn’t have one.
At the time of the incident, the government agency confirms that the weather conditions were a slight drizzle with broken ceilings at 1,200 and 2,200 feet, a calm wind, and a five-mile range of visibility.
Mentioned during the question-answer period of the media briefing, People reports that Greg Biffle’s wife, Cristina, sent a text to her mother before the aircraft went down, saying, “we’re in trouble.” The NTSB is asking the individual who received a text message, plus anybody who has any kind of evidence, whether that be video, photo, or an eyewitness account, to contact the division at witness@ntsb.gov.
It is currently unknown when the Statesville Airport will reopen, but it will at least be closed through tomorrow, December 20.
Additional details from the NTSB investigation will be shared as they become available.
The full media briefing can be seen here:
