The flight’s final moments have also been haunted by a desperate message sent from on board
A NASCAR legend has shared a chilling theory about what may have gone wrong in the horror jet crash that killed retired driver Greg Biffle and six others.
The doomed flight was rocked by reports of a “large, loud pop” during takeoff before it circled back in the sky.
Biffle’s close friend Kenny Wallace said he believes the airplane’s flaps may have been down, which created intense drag after the Cessna Citation lost a motor while taking off.
In a YouTube video, he theorized that pilots applied full-throttle power to the surviving engine but didn’t have enough power to straighten it out as they landed.
Wallace spoke out after Biffle was killed along with his wife, Cristina, and their two children, Emma and Ryder, when the private jet went down on December 18.
Craig Wadsworth, Dennis Dutton, and Dutton’s son Jack were also killed, according to a statement from the families.
Seven people died in total after the Cessna C550 jet, owned by Biffle, crashed at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 am.
An investigation to establish the exact cause of the tragedy is underway.
Wallace laid out his thinking on his YouTube channel as he tried to make sense of the final minutes.
“Here’s what I think,” he said.
“I think the plane took off, I think they lost a motor, and then, I guess it started having a lot of drag on it.
“That’s where all the up and down was taking place. They decide to come back. The flaps are down, and they don’t have any horsepower.
“There was so much drag and they had the throttle wide open, they just didn’t make it. I think that’s what happened. They just didn’t make it to the runway.”
Wallace stressed that he was thinking of the family in the wake of the tragedy, and said the loss of life was devastating.
“May the Lord be with everybody, this is a very heartfelt discussion,” he said.
“It was a very tragic loss. Everybody wants to know what happened.
“I think it was a tragic loss of life and that’s what I respectfully think is what happened.”
“It has been a sad, sad couple of weeks here with the Greg Biffle tragedy.”
LOUD POP
Friends and family told The US Sun the jet erupted into a fireball just minutes after takeoff from Statesville on December 18.
Former neighbor Jonathan Donahue said the trouble began almost immediately after the jet left the ground.
“All I know,” he said, “is that there was a large, loud pop, like something broke on the plane at takeoff, and he immediately had to turn around and make an emergency landing.”
Flight data backs up that account, showing the jet climbed sharply before turning back toward the airport.
Its speed and altitude fluctuated as the pilots battled poor visibility in low clouds and drizzle.
Moments later, the jet clipped light poles, smashed into a tree line, and exploded less than a mile from the runway.
No distress call was ever made.
FINAL MESSAGE
The flight’s final moments have also been haunted by a desperate message sent from on board.
Biffle’s mother-in-law, Cathy Grossu, told People she received a text from her daughter moments before the crash that said: “We’re in trouble.”
Grossu added: “She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble.’ And that was it. ‘So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.’”
Cristina’s mom said the group had been heading to Florida for a “birthday trip” when the crash happened.
“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” she said.
“And to see the horrific way that it ended, it’s just, it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
She said she had seen Cristina and Biffle only hours earlier, after they visited her at her home.
“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” she said.
“I don’t remember. I know we hugged, but I don’t remember those last words and that’s going to haunt me. But they were happy.”
INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
WCNC chief meteorologist Brad Panovich said after looking at public flight data that the jet took off, then circled back, pointing to a possible mechanical issue.
The Federal Aviation Authority said that the Cessna C550 crashed while attempting to land.
Dutton, a 40-year aviation veteran and recently retired Delta Airlines pilot, died alongside his son Jack, an Auburn University junior who dreamed of becoming a pilot too.
Jack had just earned his FAA Instrument Rating, a milestone he proudly shared online weeks before the crash.
Aviation expert Michael Henderson told The US Sun he believes it was “very likely a single engine problem” on a “very reliable jet.”
“He had power. He was able to climb. He could have made it back,” Henderson said.
Henderson claimed poor visibility would have sealed their fate in the low fog and drizzle.
“He was using visuals rather than instruments. There was low fog and drizzle, and he was having a real hard time seeing the airport,” Henderson said.
Source: https://www.the-sun.com/sport/15715316/nascar-legend-chilling-theory-greg-biffle-plane-crash/