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STATESVILLE, N.C. — The last local briefing National Transportation Safety Board officials gave on the plane crash that killed Greg Biffle and six others was on Saturday.
While they did answer a number of questions, for now they are not saying who was flying the plane.
NTSB investigators continued to survey the crash site, looking for any clue that might explain this tragedy that claimed seven lives, including NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and his family.
Investigators have talked to witnesses, including pilots, and reviewed videos of the moments before.
“We don’t have any information to determine what emergency might be going on in the aircraft,” said NTSB Board Member Michael Graham. “It did look like the aircraft was configured appropriately for landing, but it was low, but we have no other indicator of what might have been going on at this time.”
Investigators have recovered valuable parts of the aircraft like the engines, additional avionics like the ground proximity warning system and the caution and warning panel. Investigators are in possession of the maintenance logs.
They also confirmed that prior to the crash, a text was sent by a passenger to a family member, but they would not say who sent it.
“That read and I quote ‘emergency landing,’” said Graham. “Again, that’s ‘emergency landing.’”
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The flight attempted to land after being airborne for 10 minutes. Officials are close to being able to name who was flying.
“At this point we have a lot of really good information and we’re fairly confident with at least the left seat occupant,” Graham said. “But we need to verify that.”
Officials began removing the wreckage Saturday afternoon. The Statesville Regional Airport reopened for the first time since the crash Monday.
The NTSB’s final report on the crash will take at least 12 to 18 months.
VIDEO: NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, family dead in Statesville plane crash
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, family dead in Statesville plane crash NASCAR Driver Greg Biffle and his family were killed in a plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina.
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