Over a month after a December 18 plan crash claimed the lives of seven individuals, including NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family, the National Transportation Safety Board has released an eight-page report of preliminary findings from the investigation.
Since the fatal plane crash at Statesville Regional Airport on December 18, 2025, NASCAR fans, drivers, owners, teams, and alumni have all paid their respects to those lost through tribute videos, memorial services, and public events.
While these memorials were ongoing, the National Transportation Safety Board was reviewing all information available to get to the root cause of this crash.
As of their last update on December 18, the NTSB was still unsure of who was flying the plane and who was in the second seat in the cockpit when Biffle’s 1981 Cessna Citation Business Jet crashed during an abrupt return to the airport from takeoff.
Friday, an initial report filed by the NTSB clarified several important facts about the crash they were able to gather from the crash site and the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, though it did not establish probable cause for the crash.
Per this report, the pilot at takeoff was Dennis Dutton, seated in the left seat, with his son Jack Dutton, who has a private pilot certificate with 175.3 total flight hours in single-engine land airplanes as of late November, seated in the right.
Noted alongside the Duttons was Greg Biffle, whom the report claims holds a “private pilot certificate and ratings for multi-engine land, instrument airplane, and rotorcraft-helicopter.”
“The CVR recording confirmed the airline transport rated pilot was seated in the left seat, the pilot’s adult son, who held a private pilot certificate with a single engine land and an instrument rating, was a passenger in the right seat. A rear seat passenger with a private pilot certificate and ratings for multi-engine land, instrument airplane, and rotorcraft-helicopter was positioned near the cockpit in the cabin area.” – Page 1
The plane then took off at 10:06 AM, with Page 1 also noting that the passenger, Biffle, noted that “that the left engine was producing more power than the right and indicated there may have been a faulty gauge.”
Biffle pointed this out again shortly after, but not again afterwards.
At 10:10 AM, the report states Dennis Dutton made comments that would suggest the altitude indicator and “additional left side flight instruments” were not working properly.
At roughly 10:11 AM, as seen in the chart provided by the NTSB below, Jack took over flying duties, though the report claims that conversations indicated that Dennis had taken back over by 10:13. Around that time, page 2 says that “the pilot and both pilot-rated passengers stated they could see the ground.”
Shortly after this, around 10:13:48 AM, Jack said over the Statesville Regional Airport common traffic advisory frequency, “…we’re having some issues here.”
After this, barring some audio quality of the recording, the report states talk of an unspecified “problem” with the plane making a left-hand turn towards the runway at 10:14:10 AM.
“The GPS data showed the airplane rolled out of the turn onto runway heading about 1014:50, at an altitude of about 1,240 ft msl and 114 kts IAS. Recorded CVR audio indicated the right seat passenger visually acquired the runway and provided directions to the pilot as to where the runway was. About 1015:00, the pilot made comments which indicated he had acquired the runway visually.” — Page 3
The report states that audio and GPS data ended at 10:15:23, and that the first identified point of impact was the runway’s first light station. A post-impact fire also burned a “majority of the fuselage and heat damaged both wings, empennage, and both engines.”
Both Dennis and Jack Dutton, alongside Greg Biffle, Biffle’s wife Cristina, their son Ryder, his daughter Emma, and Craig Wadsworth were killed in the crash.
While this is a somewhat in-depth report, per NTSB Board Member Michael Graham, in December, a final report could be 12 to 18 months following the crash until a final report is completed.
What’s Happening? The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the crash that took the lives of seven North Carolina residents, including…
For more, our notes and links to the first and second NTSB media briefings can be found via the story linked above.
