A 1981 Cessna 550 Citation II, owned by NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, crashed Thursday morning at Statesville Regional Airport (SVH) in North Carolina, killing seven people, North Carolina State Highway Patrol confirmed Thursday afternoon. The plane went up in flames after impact.
Highway Patrol said it is believed Biffle, his wife and their two kids died. Highway Patrol said it could not provide a definitive list as of Thursday afternoon on the identities because of the post-crash fire.The aircraft departed from runway 10 just after 10 a.m. in rapidly deteriorating weather conditions. Flight data put the plane on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan bound for Sarasota, Florida, with subsequent scheduled flights on Thursday to the Bahamas and Fort Lauderdale before returning later the same day to Statesville. Flight tracking data from FlightAware shows the aircraft, tail number N257BW, registered to GB Aviation Leasing LLC, took off from the airport shortly after 10 a.m. but returned after 26 minutes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by GlobalAir.com (@globalaircom)
METAR information from five minutes before the Citation took off showed heavy drizzle with a 5-mile visibility and overcast at 5,000 feet above ground level. Roughly 15 minutes after the crash, METAR showed a 1.75-mile visibility with heavy rain, scattered clouds at 400 AGL and overcast at 1,000 AGL.After departure, the aircraft turned left onto a south-southwest heading and climbed 2,000 feet above sea level (just over 1,000 feet AGL) before turning back toward the airport as it descended around 500 feet. The flight track indicates a possible attempt to steer toward runway 10 before entering left downwind to runway 28, the opposite end. ADS-B data ended right after a sharp turn close-in left base to the runway.Internet personality Garrett Mitchell, known as Cleetus McFarland, posted on Facebook that Biffle and his family were on board the aircraft and were on their way to spend the afternoon with him.(Family photo from Biffle’s Facebook)
Race car driver Kenny Wallace posted on social media that Craig Wadsworth, who drove Wallace’s motor home for years, was also on the plane.The airport is non-towered with an elevation of 968 feet above mean sea level. Runway 10/28 is paved and just over 7,000 feet long, the only runway on the field. It was closed with no announced time on Thursday for reopening, as the FAA began its investigation, with the NTSB expected to provide an update on Friday.
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