The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation at Statesville Regional Airport, where seven people were killed Thursday, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family.
NTSB crews arrived in North Carolina on Thursday evening to investigate a deadly private jet crash in Statesville. The 44-year-old Cessna Citation that went down was registered to a company owned by Biffle.
Investigators said Friday that the flight lasted about 10 minutes before the Citation struck the approach light system and a nearby tree line, then crashed on the runway. Officials said they have not confirmed who was at the controls of the jet, as three people on board had pilot licenses, including Biffle.
NTSB Board Member Michael Graham said crews are still reviewing recordings to determine whether the pilots issued a mayday call.
"At this point, we are not aware if there was an actual issue or not. We are studying a lot of things," Graham said. "We are trying to get recordings from the various frequencies that the aircraft may have been on and any other witness statements that may have heard anything on the common frequency."
In addition, Graham also said investigators can not determine if weather was one of the causes in the crash.
"It was visual flight rules, but there were low ceilings out there, and there was heavy drizzle at the time. So that is one of the three things that we really mainly look at."
Officials said the cockpit voice recorder has been recovered and sent to Washington, D.C. Statesville Airport will remain closed as crews remove wreckage from the crash site.
The preliminary investigation is expected to be completed in 30 days, and the full investigation may take up to a year.
