A passenger on the plane that crashed Thursday morning frantically texted his family before the tragedy that killed former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle.
“Emergency landing,” National Safety Transportation Board member Michael Graham said at a news conference Saturday. Graham did not identify the passenger or the family member they texted.
“We are not aware of any other communications between passengers on the plane and passengers on the ground,” Graham said.
Graham added that one of the Cessna C550’s black boxes was found and shipped to Washington, D.C., for inspection. The NTSB also obtained the aircraft’s maintenance logs, which document the maintenance and repairs performed on the aircraft.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials also shared some additional details leading up to Thursday morning’s crash. According to reports, the plane took off from the runway at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina 10 minutes before the accident, turned left, and then turned left back to the airport about five minutes later.
“The initial point of impact was the runway light strut approximately 1,800 feet from the runway threshold,” said Dan Baker, senior aviation safety investigator. “The aircraft then struck trees, two additional runway light struts and the airport fence near the runway threshold before coming to rest near the runway threshold.”
Graham said the plane crashed while trying to land on another runway around 10:15 a.m.
“We believe the aircraft was immediately returning to the airport, possibly due to some kind of issue,” Graham said. “At this time, we don’t know if there was an actual issue.”
Graham said the plane did not send a distress call. Baker said the plane was built in 1981 by Cessna Aircraft Company.
After the impact, the fire destroyed much of the plane’s fuselage and a wing close to the fuselage, Baker said.
“All four corners of the aircraft and flight control surfaces were recovered in the wreckage and debris field, and both engines were present along with the main wreckage,” Baker said.
Winds were calm but the ceiling was low and heavy rain was falling at the time of the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, and the government is investigating the potential cause. Officials confirmed that seven people were killed in the crash but did not reveal the identities of any of the victims.
Biffle, his wife and two children are believed to have been on the plane when it crashed, according to 1st Sgt. Chris Knox of the North Carolina Highway Patrol. There were three other people on the plane, namely Craig Wadsworth, Dennis Dutton and his son Jack Dutton.
National Transportation Safety Board officials said they did not know who was flying the plane, but there were three people with pilot licenses on board.
A team of 16 NTSB experts arrived at the scene Thursday evening and have been collecting evidence and working to determine a possible cause. Graham said they will remain in North Carolina as long as they deem it necessary to collect investigative evidence. Graham said Saturday that the team has spoken with witnesses and gathered testimonies and will continue to do so.
“I want to emphasize that this is the beginning of a very long process, and while we are on site in North Carolina, we are not jumping to any conclusions or engaging in speculation,” Graham said.
The NTSB is expected to submit a preliminary report within 30 days and a full investigation a year to 18 months later.
Graham said the Federal Aviation Administration, plane maker Textron Aviation and engine maker Pratt & Whitney Canada are all assisting in the investigation.
Graham asked anyone with video or images of the crash to contact the National Transportation Safety Board.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com
