NASCAR driver Greg Biffle perishes in plane crash

[GrauGeist]

I was not really a fan of Biffle, but he was a successful driver.

This is a sad tragedy, as he, his wife, daughter and son all died when his Cessna crashed while trying to land in inclement weather at Statesville airport in Florida.
NASCAR legend Greg Biffle and family killed in plane crash

 

[rochie]

Very sad

 

[fannum]

A true tragedy, and an amazingly humble person in an occupation dominated by egos and type "A" personalities. I'm fortunate to have been around him, and was impressed with his ability to interact with officials, drivers and fans on the same level of equality and attention. Recently lauded for SE hurricane aid, this was common for him.
He was NASCAR Champion in two of their three divisions, and barely missed winning the third, which no one else has done.

 

[Deleted member 82436]

Here is a good report on how this plane crash happened.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKiPUBFFgQM
He flies this type of plane. He also explains what the NTSB got wrong in their briefing. It is a lot!
Also a father and son were piloting the aircraft. Another family tragedy.

 

[fannum]

Clickbait trash, for all his know-it-all attitude, Gryder spends 35 minutes patting himself on the back and then giving you less than 6 minutes of speculative confusion. The fact that the majority of video is of him and he bases all on "his special, private sources" underlines the ego and 'get it out first, but not accurate' element.

There's a lot of other information now available that he doesn't mention, like a missing forward baggage door.

I agree with a few nuggets of information, though unverified, but he buries them in so much meandering BS that a non-aviator is left with so much extraneous garbage, you're still sorting it out.

I'm rated in Hawker, Gulfstream and Lear bizjets, mostly Lear 35 and have flown Citations.

I don't understand why they took off with a 'rough engine' if that Unicom TX is accurate.

Bottom Line. The rest is bad decision after bad decision in unexpectedly deteriorating weather and equipment malfunction.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Update:


Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle was not flying his own jet when it crashed last month, killing him and six others, according to a Friday report from investigators.

The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board also concluded that while an experienced pilot was at the controls, the person sitting in the right seat wasn't qualified to be the copilot. Biffle and the retired airline pilot at the controls, Dennis Dutton, and his son Jack, who were all licensed pilots, noticed problems with gauges malfunctioning on the Cessna C550 before it crashed while trying to return to the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.

The plane erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground about a third of a mile (550 meters) from the airport's runway.

The NTSB made clear that Jack Dutton was sitting in the copilot seat. Neither Jack Dutton nor Biffle had the right endorsement on their pilot's licenses to serve as a copilot on that plane, and the younger Dutton had only about 175 hours of flying experience. Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration, said he believes the lack of an experienced copilot may have been a key factor in the crash.

"This airplane requires two trained pilots, and if things go wrong and you don't have a trained pilot, then bad things can happen," Guzzetti said. "The airplane might have been able to be landed safely if there were two qualified pilots up front."

NASCAR's Greg Biffle wasn't flying his plane before crash that killed him and 6 others

Federal safety officials have concluded that retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle was not flying his jet when it crashed last month, killing him and six others.

apnews.com

Not being a pilot, I'm not qualified to comment.

 

[Sabrejet]

I think Gryder said as much. I know people love to hate him, but he's often right.