The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on Friday.<\/b>
\nRetired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle was not flying his own jet when it crashed last month, killing him and six others, according to a Friday report from federal safety officials who also concluded that while an experienced pilot was at the controls, no one else on board was qualified to be the required copilot.
The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said that Biffle and the retired airline pilot at the controls, Dennis Dutton, and his son Jack, who were all licensed pilots, noticed problems with gauges malfunctioning on the Cessna C550 before it crashed while trying to return to the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.
The plane erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground about a third of a mile from the airport\u2019s runway.
The NTSB made clear that Jack Dutton was sitting in the copilot seat. Neither Jack Dutton nor Biffle had the right endorsement on their pilot\u2019s licenses to serve as a copilot on that plane, but it\u2019s not clear whether the experience of the copilot played any role in the crash. The report said that a thrust reverser indicator light wasn\u2019t working before takeoff, but after the plane got into the air, the pilot\u2019s altimeter and some other instruments weren\u2019t working.
The nature of the problems with the plane isn\u2019t clear at this stage in the investigation, partly because the cockpit voice recorder cut out at times and NTSB experts have only just begun to dig into what caused the crash. Over the radio, Jack Dutton announced, \u201cwe\u2019re having some problems here\u201d and the cockpit recorder captured part of the conversation between the three pilots about the issues with the plane.
Biffle\u2019s wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, were killed in the crash along with his friend, Craig Wadsworth.
Biffle, 55, won more than 50 races across NASCAR\u2019s three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He also won the Trucks Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002.
In 2024, Biffle was honored for his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Helene struck the U.S., even using his personal helicopter to deliver aid to flooded, remote western North Carolina.
Hundreds of people in the NASCAR community gathered at an arena in Charlotte earlier this month to honor Biffle at a public memorial service.
The jet had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte about 10 minutes before it crashed while trying to return and land.
The plane\u2019s speed and altitude fluctuated significantly during the brief flight. At one point, the plane quickly soared from 1,800 feet up to 4,000 feet before descending again. Just before the crash, it was only a couple of hundred feet off the ground. Experts said its path was consistent with a flight crew that experienced an issue and needed to return quickly.<\/p>\n