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.

A plane crashed early Thursday at Statesville Regional Airport, killing seven people, including NASCAR star Greg Biffle, his wife and two children, and three other people. Biffle, who flew aircraft in WNC to help victims of Hurricane Helene, owned the Cessna that crashed mid-morning north of Charlotte. By Tanasia Kenney