A small passenger jet that crashed at a regional airport in North Carolina on Thursday, killing the NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife and children, and three others, was in the air for only about five minutes before it began to turn around to make a landing, National Transportation Safety Board officials said on Friday.
Witnesses noted that the plane, which the local authorities said was a Cessna C550 registered to Mr. Biffle, was flying remarkably low as it returned to Statesville Regional Airport, about 40 miles north of Charlotte. A member of the N.T.S.B., Michael Graham, told reporters at a news conference in North Carolina that the plane began to hit airstrip lights and trees about 1,800 feet away from the approach end of the runway and crashed before reaching it. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the crash occurred at 10:20 a.m.
There was heavy drizzle at the time but no wind, Mr. Graham said, with visibility of five miles. He also noted that a scan of enhanced tracking data from technology that broadcasts planes’ locations to other pilots indicated that there were no other aircraft in the area at the time.
“We are not aware that there was a mayday call,” Mr. Graham said, encouraging anyone who had video of the plane’s final movements to share it with investigators.
The local authorities said on Thursday that five of the victims were adults and two were children. NASCAR confirmed that Mr. Biffle, 55, was among those who died in the crash, alongside his wife, Cristina; his daughter, Emma, 14; and his son, Ryder, 5. The other three passengers were Dennis and Jack Dutton, a father and son, and Craig Wadsworth, NASCAR said.
Mr. Graham said that three of the people aboard the plane had pilot’s licenses, and that investigators had not yet been able to determine who was at the controls. Mr. Biffle had his private pilot’s license.
Mr. Graham said that investigators had recovered the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and that it was en route to N.T.S.B. headquarters in Washington for further inspection. The plane was built in 1981.
Mr. Biffle’s NASCAR career began in the organization’s pickup truck racing division in 1998; he began driving in NASCAR’s top stock car series in 2002, logging his final season in 2022. In 2023, NASCAR named him one of its 75 best drivers of all time.
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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