WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle was not piloting his own plane when it crashed last month, killing him and six other people, according to a report Friday by federal safety officials who also concluded that no one on board was qualified to serve as the plane’s co-pilot.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report said Biffle and retired airline pilot at the controls, Dennis Dutton, and his son Jack noticed problems with malfunctioning gauges on the Cessna C550 before it crashed while attempting to return to Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.
Biffle’s wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, died in the crash along with his friend, Craig Wadsworth.