Citation 550 down at SVH

T

Todd82

Cleared for Takeoff
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Jeez...Hope Biffle & fam wasn't on board. Been watching his youtube channel and his collabs with Cleetus Mcfarland a lot lately.
 
Absolutely sad
 

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Duck Under? Fog reported.

edit: Return to Airport. Some say maybe a nose baggage door open in flight.
 
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Absolute gut punch. Especially with all the help he did during the flooding
 
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Damn. That 5ucks. Biffle was a great guy and driver. RIP
 
Very sad. Many of my neighbors knew the crew (one had crewed with one of the pilots on a different citation and another is a helicopter pilot for Biffle and Gibbs).
 
It's weird they spent 26 minutes airborn and then returned. Seems like something happened very early and were trying to troubleshoot.
 
It's IFR (not low, but IFR) here. I'm about 5 miles due south of SVH. They'd have been talking to ZTL on 125.15 but the liveatc for that sector is pretty poor. I didn't hear anything around the time of the incident (later on I hear them mentioning SVH was closed).
 
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So, Biffle did not fly this airplane?

I would have assumed since he owned it, he would be one of its pilots.
 
He started racing in the NW. I crewed on another car in the series he competed in. Although I didn't know him personally he was respected and actually a very nice person. This really sucks, hope it wasn't something avoidable.
 
Hugh Despenser said:
So, Biffle did not fly this airplane?

I would have assumed since he owned it, he would be one of its pilots.
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His records show no type ratings, nor an instrument rating, unless he got it too recently to show up.
 
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flyingron said:
Not the rumors here. Engine problems necessitated a return to the field.
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Yep, it could have been any number of things. But something happened to make them try and return.

Hopefully we'll hear something definitive soon. It's always a sad day when there is a crash, but it is still worth leaning what happened and doing a little arm chair flying to think about the "what ifs" and what I might have done in a similar situation. (Granted I'm in a Mooney, but some lessons carry over...)
 
Sounds like seven people were onboard.

"Greg Biffle and wife Cristina Biffle died, along with Greg's daughter Emma, and Greg and Cristina's 2-year-old son Ryder. Dennis Dutton, his son Jack Dutton, and Craig Wadsworth were also killed."
 
Lowflynjack said:
Sounds like seven people were onboard.

"Greg Biffle and wife Cristina Biffle died, along with Greg's daughter Emma, and Greg and Cristina's 2-year-old son Ryder. Dennis Dutton, his son Jack Dutton, and Craig Wadsworth were also killed."
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Nine. Those don't include the two pilots.
 
eman1200 said:
Within the nascar community I believe there are quite a few owners who also are pilots.
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I've known a bunch over the years, but very few get up into the things that require type ratings. Rusty Wallace I think got a lear rating back in the day. Most seem to fly piston singles and light twins. There's a whole cottage industry at SVH and JQF flying NASCAR guys around both Jets and Helicopters. Kasey Kahne and Michael Waltrip lived less than a mile from me. Kasey's pilot wouldn't hand the helicopter on his property at night, so they'd use our runway. During the Coca Cola 600 race, there's no room to leave the helicopters during the race, so Gibbs's pilot comes over here (he has a house on the airport).
 
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet but Greg Biffle was a masterful rotorcraft pilot who really joined in quickly last year taking supplies to and evacuating people from the “Tropical Storm” Helene which caused more damage than many if not most less than Cat 5 hurricanes. He was a true leader and was one of us. May he, his family and the turbine pilots rest in peace and we thank him again for all the people that he helped in Western NC and Georgia. He was one of the first pilots flying in supplies and carrying out survivors and their pets.
 
Not to add to the speculation, but I’m intrigued as to what could’ve happened here. Even at max gross which I’m guessing they were near, the S-II should at least be able to hold altitude OEI. A climb at 500fpm should’ve also been feasible with the temps. I’m pretty curious about this one.
 
eman1200 said:
Within the nascar community I believe there are quite a few owners who also are pilots.
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For sure. But there's only a couple that fly the big stuff. Carl Edwards I believe is one of the few.
 
Racerx said:
For sure. But there's only a couple that fly the big stuff. Carl Edwards I believe is one of the few.
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there is one driver I know of personally who flies himself to the races in his citation. there are probably others, I'm not saying a lot but just that I wouldn't be surprised if there were several.
 
flyingron said:
Nine. Those don't include the two pilots.
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My understanding is the Dutton’s were the pilots. Dennis was a retired airline captain and his son Jack was a CFI with commercial license and was continuing work to follow in his father’s footsteps. It’s unclear whether Greg or Jack was in the right seat.
 
RyanB said:
Not to add to the speculation, but I’m intrigued as to what could’ve happened here. Even at max gross which I’m guessing they were near, the S-II should at least be able to hold altitude OEI. A climb at 500fpm should’ve also been feasible with the temps. I’m pretty curious about this one.
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Looking at altitudes and ground speeds it doesn't seem performance was an issue, and based on the track they made it all the way back to the runway (albeit reverse direction of takeoff, if relevant). So yeah, even with an engine fire/failure making it back to a safe landing area at least doesn't seem to have been a problem.
 
Auburn2002 said:
Looking at altitudes and ground speeds it doesn't seem performance was an issue, and based on the track they made it all the way back to the runway (albeit reverse direction of takeoff, if relevant). So yeah, even with an engine fire/failure making it back to a safe landing area at least doesn't seem to have been a problem.
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Agree and that’s what has me puzzled - the ‘what else?’
 
Not knowing him other than his on-air personality, I always liked his attitude and humor. Sounds like that was the real him. Such a tragedy including the other lost lives.
 
Wild speculation… but possibly a case of some malfunction getting them to a behind the power curve and too much rate of descent on final…

Single engine most likely….

Tragic beyond words.

Edit: if what doc says is the case… that fits the scenario pretty well… ugh
 
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