STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) —A business jet with six people aboard crashed Thursday at a regional airport in North Carolina used by NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies, erupting in a large fire and killing multiple people, authorities said.
Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle.
There were six people on the Cessna C550 that crashed while landing at Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.
Golfers playing next to the airport were shocked as they witnessed the disaster, even dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club while the plane was overhead. The ninth hole was covered with debris.
“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville. “It was scary.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were investigating. AccuWeather says there was some drizzle and clouds at the time of the crash.
The plane took off from the airport shortly after 10 a.m. but then returned and was attempting to land there, according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com.
The plane had planned to fly later from Sarasota, Florida, to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening, data showed.
Video from WSOC-TV showed first responders rushing onto the runway as flames burned near scattered wreckage from the plane. The airport’s website states that it offers corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams.
The tragedy in North Carolina adds to the list of plane crashes this year around the world, including the plane-helicopter collision that killed 67 in Washington, the Air India crash that killed 260 in India, and a crash in Russia’s Far East that claimed 48 lives. Fourteen people, including 11 on the ground, died in a UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky.
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This story corrects the sheriff’s first name to Darren, not Grant.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this story.
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