NTSB Details Instrument Failures in Biffle Jet Crash

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board has detailed a series of instrument failures and operational challenges that preceded the fatal crash of a private jet at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina on December 18, 2025, killing seven people including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family.

The Cessna Citation 550, registered as N257BW, was operating as a personal flight under visual flight rules when it departed the airport around 10:06 a.m., bound for Sarasota, Florida. On board were Biffle, 55, his wife Cristina, their children Emma, 14, and Ryder, 5, along with pilots Dennis Dutton and his adult son Jack Dutton, and family friend Craig Wadsworth. The group was traveling to attend a Christmas party. Dennis Dutton, a retired airline pilot with extensive experience on larger commercial jets but limitations on the Cessna model, occupied the left seat as the primary pilot. Jack Dutton, who held a pilot's license with about 175 total flight hours in single-engine aircraft, sat in the right seat but was not qualified under federal regulations to serve as second-in-command for this type of jet. Biffle, himself a licensed private pilot...