The National Transportation Safety Board has opened its investigation into the aviation incident that killed Greg Biffle, his family and three others Thursday morning at Statesville Regional Airport.
While a preliminary report will be released within 30 days, a full investigation will take 12 to 18 months before a final report is released.
NTSB member Michael Graham held a press conference Friday afternoon in which he detailed what the process will look like over the next calendar year. He was joined by lead investigator Dan Baker.
Together, they explained that the first steps will include interviewing witnesses and collecting all relevant multimedia evidence from the incident.
The Cessna 550, owned by the former NASCAR Cup Series star, crashed at 10:15 a.m., just 10 minutes after takeoff, at the approach end of Runway 28. The crash killed Biffle, his wife Cristina Grossu Biffle, his daughter Emma (by his first wife Nicole Lunders) and his son Ryder.
Also on board were longtime NASCAR regular Craig Wadsworth, who worked with Biffle for a long time, as well as Dennis and Jack Dutton.
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NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and his family killed in plane crash
The accident produced an 1,800-foot debris field and the cockpit voice recorder is returning to Washington, D.C. for analysis.
“It’s quite long, so it’s scattered and it’s going to take a while to document it all,” Graham said. “We weren’t able to launch our drone today with the high winds, but we want to have that digitally documented with the drone tomorrow, so hopefully we can get a better idea of the width and amount of debris that’s out there.”
Graham also said the NTSB did not currently know who was flying the plane Thursday, but acknowledged that three registered pilots were on board.
“At this time we have not been able to verify who was flying the plane,” Graham said. “Three of the occupants had pilot’s licenses, but we haven’t been able to verify (who was flying) at this time. That’s one of the things we’re working on.”
Graham also said the plane could be flown by two people or just one with a waiver, and that many pilots fly the Cessna 550 solo, but the NTSB wasn’t sure which was the case Thursday.
The initial impact occurred just short of the runway before continuing onto it.
“Yes, he hit the ground before he hit the runway,” Graham said in response to a question.
Near the fence?
“Right nearby are the witness marks,” Graham said. “We’re still evaluating that.”
At this point, Graham repeatedly asked anyone who had video and photos, or even witnessed the incident, to contact the NTSB witness email account.
Graham has been led to believe the plane approached again at low altitude, but he wants to conduct more interviews and see more video and photographs.
“At this point, we’re doing some on-site interviews,” Graham said. “We’re looking for additional witnesses and that’s why I mentioned it in the briefing. But we don’t have anything to share. It’s way too early for that. That would fall into our analysis section.”
Currently, the NTSB is not aware of any mechanical problems the plane may have experienced shortly after takeoff. Graham also said it was too early to speculate on what role weather conditions might have played in the incident.
“The weather conditions were within visual flight rules, but the ceilings were low and there was heavy drizzle at the time,” Graham said. “So that’s one of the three things we look at primarily: the people operating the plane, we look at the plane itself and we look at the environment and the weather is one of the things we do and will look at.”
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