Report: Auburn student on plane that crashed in North Carolina, killing seven, including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle

First responders tend to the scene of a reported plane crash at a regional airport in Statesville, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

An Auburn University student was killed in the plane crash in North Carolina that killed retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, according to multiple reports.

The Charlotte Observer newspaper says 20-year-old Jack Dutton was studying aviation at Auburn and was in the school’s flight program. His father, 67-year-old Dennis Dutton, was also aboard the plane and was a retired U.S. Air Force Reserves pilot and was a captain for Delta Air Lines.

They were two of the seven people on the Cessna C550 that crashed near the Statesville Regional Airport, killing everyone aboard.

Jack Dutton was a graduate of Hough High School in Cornelius, North Carolina, near Charlotte. The school paid tribute to him on X:

Rest in Peace Jack, gone too soon pic.twitter.com/4corQLBuJi

— Hough HS Athletics (@HoughAthletics) December 19, 2025

Federal investigators are trying to figure out why the business jet carrying retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle tried to return to a North Carolina airport just after takeoff but plowed into light poles and a tree line short of the runway.

The plane erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground yesterday morning, about a third of a mile from the airport’s runway. They also don’t know who the was the lead pilot. Biffle and the Duttons were three people on board with a pilot’s license.

The jet had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, 10 minutes earlier, but crashed while trying to return and land, authorities said.

Flight records indicate the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board began examining the wreckage on Friday to help determine the cause of the crash and why the plane had returned to the airport in drizzle and cloudy conditions.

Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder, which could provide important clues about what happened. They were not aware of any emergency calls from the jet, NTSB member Michael Graham said at a news conference today.

Biffle’s wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, were also killed in the crash, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

Cristina Biffle’s mother told People magazine that her daughter sent her a text message saying, “We’re in trouble,” before she didn’t hear from her again.

Dennis Dutton was licensed and rated to fly this model of plane, but even then, he was supposed to fly with a co-pilot. Even though Biffle was rated to fly a multi-engine plane, he wasn’t listed as qualified to fly this particular jet or be a second officer. Dutton’s son, Jack, also had a pilot’s license but was only rated for single-engine planes.

“There is nobody else that has a second-in-command type rating in the airplane. So there’s a question on the crew,” aviation safety expert John Cox said.

The plane’s speed and altitude fluctuated significantly during the brief flight, and its path was consistent with a flight crew that experienced an issue and needed to return quickly, said former NTSB and FAA crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti.

At one point, the plane quickly soared from 1,800 feet up to 4,000 feet before descending again. Just before the crash, it was only a couple of hundred feet off the ground.

“One thing is certain: They were low. They were too low to make a safe landing on that runway,” Guzzetti said.

It’s unclear why the pilots didn’t make an emergency call, but their top priorities are flying the plane and figuring out where to land — not radioing for help. It’s possible they were too busy trying to control the plane and dealing with the problem. But Cox said it’s also possible that the problem they encountered wasn’t considered an emergency. And the pilots may not have made it a priority to make a radio call with no tower or firefighters at the airport.

Biffle, 55, won more than 50 races across NASCAR’s three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He also won the Trucks Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002.

In 2024, Biffle was honored for his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Helene struck the U.S., even using his personal helicopter to deliver aid to flooded, remote western North Carolina.

A memorial with flowers sprouted up Friday by Biffle’s marble star in his hometown of Mooresville, honoring him as a member of the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

Steve Miller dropped by to pay his respects. He met Biffle at a huge party after he was inducted in October. He told Biffle he hoped the racecar driver could help knock an item off his bucket list — taking a flight in a helicopter.

“Come knock on my door, I’ll take you up,” Miller recalled Biffle telling him. “Never happened.”

Cessna Citations like the one that crashed Thursday are known as reliable, easy-to-fly jets. While the plane is in flight, one pilot is at the controls while the other pilot is the monitoring pilot, Cox said.

Roughly 1,000 of these 550 series jets have been made, and they have a very good safety record. “What accidents have occurred in this type were mostly due to very poor pilot decisions,” Guzzetti said.

The Statesville airport will remain closed at least through Saturday as the NTSB performs its investigation, officials said.

(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)