The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its investigation into a plane crash at Statesville Regional Airport that killed seven people, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife and two children.
The crash happened Thursday as the plane attempted to land after taking off earlier in the day. Also killed were Dennis Dutton, his son Jack Dutton and Craig Wadsworth.
During a weekend briefing, NTSB board member Michael Graham said investigators have not yet determined who was flying the aircraft at the time of the crash. Biffle, Dennis Dutton and Jack Dutton were all licensed pilots.
Graham also confirmed that at least one message was sent from the aircraft while it was in the air. The NTSB said a passenger sent a brief text message to a family member that read, “emergency landing.”
People magazine reported the message was sent by Biffle’s wife, Cristina, to her mother.
Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and are working to extract data from it. Witnesses told investigators the plane was coming in level and configured for landing, with its landing gear down, but was flying very low before the crash.
The NTSB said it expects to release a preliminary report within about a month.