NASCAR Legend Greg Biffle’s Heartbreaking Plane Crash. Seven people, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and his two children, were tragically killed when the aircraft they were flying in crashed at the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina earlier today. Normally, I don’t make videos about breaking news plane crashes because there’s so much we don’t know and it’s too easy to speculate. But this one hits really close to home. That’s why I felt it was important to make this quick update, walk you through the facts, and talk about what we know so far.

I’m Hoover—welcome to your pilot debrief. I’ll start with a quick overview from the Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft involved was a Cessna 550 Citation II business jet. Here’s what that aircraft looks like for reference. As of now, ASN is reporting six fatalities, while the news is reporting seven.

According to preliminary information, the jet was trying to return to runway 28 following an issue on departure. It’s not yet known what that issue was. The aircraft collided with terrain short of the runway, crossed a road and the airport perimeter fence, and came to rest on the runway where a post-crash fire ensued. The aircraft’s speed was fluctuating.

Before we look at the flight data, we need to talk about the weather at Statesville Regional earlier today. Conditions were VFR early in the morning, improving to about 5,000-foot ceilings with 10 miles visibility around 9:35–9:55 local time. Initial reports suggested the crash happened at 10:32, but flight data indicates it may have occurred around 10:15. Critically, between 9:55 and 10:35, weather deteriorated rapidly—down to 1¾ miles visibility, 1,000-foot ceilings, rain, and scattered clouds at 400 feet.

This matters because we need to understand what type of flight plan they were on. It’s possible they took off VFR based on earlier conditions, but given the deterioration, hopefully they were filed IFR and talking to ATC after departure. Statesville is a non-towered airfield, so they could have received an IFR clearance on the ground. We don’t have ATC audio yet, and there’s a lot we still don’t know about the investigation. I won’t speculate about the takeoff sequence.

Let’s focus on the flight data—facts we can reference. I imported ADS-B data into FlyTool from ADSB Exchange. They departed runway 10 at 1507Z (10:07 local) and immediately made a standard left-hand turnout. At 2,200 feet MSL—about 1,267 feet AGL—they began a descent.

They descended to around 600 feet AGL during that left-hand turn. We don’t know why: troubleshooting, an emergency, or descending to stay below weather until picking up IFR. Shortly after, they began climbing again. The vertical speed shows around 1,000 fpm climb before another descent begins.

We see fluctuations down to –832 fpm, then a climb rate spike to 4,500 fpm, and later as high as 6,600 fpm. At that point, the heads-up view shows about 2,800 feet AGL, with an aggressive climb at 6,600 fpm and 157 knots ground speed. They reached a peak of 4,500 feet MSL (about 3,600 feet AGL). During a left-hand turn, they started an aggressive descent—nearly 5,000 fpm—while turning back toward the airfield.

A few seconds later, the vertical speed swings back to nearly a 4,000 fpm climb. Whether this reflects aircraft control issues or something else, the profile is clearly unstable as they maneuver to return to the airport. They climb back to 3,100 feet MSL, then start descending again. The track appears to set up a tight downwind for runway 28, opposite departure direction, with light winds.

On downwind, they were quite close-in to the runway. Altitude data shows 850 feet AGL before the turn, then dipping to about 400 feet AGL—low for a downwind leg. We don’t know if weather drove that altitude choice. The cockpit view shows the runway coming into sight as they make a right-hand turn to adjust spacing—likely recognizing the tight pattern. Ground speed around 172 knots is fast for 350–400 feet AGL downwind.

They turn away briefly and the ground speed begins to slow. Altitude stabilizes near 450–500 feet AGL. They then start a left-hand turn back toward the runway, with a shallow descent. Airspeed continues to decay toward a more typical approach range. The runway appears ahead; at one point, we see about 100 knots and 450 feet AGL.

There are some airspeed fluctuations that could reflect ADS-B data inconsistencies. The flight data ends shortly thereafter. I won’t speculate on the cause of the crash. The key observations are unstable vertical speeds, aggressive climbs and descents, tight pattern spacing, and low altitudes—especially under deteriorating weather. We need the NTSB’s investigation and data to understand what actually went wrong.

What we know for certain is the tragedy: seven lives lost, including an entire family, so close to the Christmas holiday. I know this won’t answer every question, but I hope it provides clarity on the facts we have. Thank you for watching, and thank you for your time.