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Witness recounts moment Greg Biffle's Cessna jet crashed into fireball: ‘I watched my friend die’
Eyewitness recounts the tragic Cessna crash that claimed the lives of Greg Biffle, his family, and friends
A Cessna C550 owned by Greg Biffle crashed into a fireball at Statesville Airport in North Carolina on Thursday. All seven passengers onboard, including the famed NASCAR driver, his immediate family members and friends, were killed.
Eyewitness recalls horrific moment Greg Biffle's plane crashed and burst into flames
According to a joint family statement, Biffle's wife, Christina Grossu, his son, Ryder, his daughter, Emma, whom he shared with his ex-wife, Nicole Lunders, his friends, Craig Wadsworth and Dennis Dutton and his son, Jack Dutton, lost their lives in the plane crash.
Michael Wingo, who witnessed the accident from his front porch near Old Airport Road, recounted the harrowing moment the business jet burst into flames. “I looked over and saw it. When it exploded, I could feel the heat from here,” he told the Charlotte Observer.
The eyewitness, who saw the crash while letting his dog outside, immediately dialled 911. “Knowing if that plane had been angled in any different direction, it could have landed right here,” Wingo went on, adding, “That scares me a lot.”
Shortly after, Wingo learned that one of his close friends, Wadsworth — who drove the motor coach of NASCAR reporter and former driver Kenny Wallace, was also onboard the ill-fated jet.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” he said of the loss of his friend, adding, “I watched it happen, and I didn’t know who was on it until later. In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘I watched my friend die.’ ”
“He’d give you the shirt off his back,” Wingo said of Wadsworth. “Great person. Craig was one of the best.” Wallace also mourned the deaths of Biffle and his family, and “my dear friend Craig Wadsworth” in the “horrible tragedy.” He paid tribute to them and celebrated their lives in an 11-minute video statement shared on Facebook.
