FIERY PLANE CRASH
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family were among those who escaped serious injury Aug. 15 when their private plane crashed and burst into flames while landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in eastern Tennessee.
All passengers on board – Earnhardt Jr., his wife Amy and daughter Isla, their family dog and two pilots – were able to walk away from the fiery wreckage.
Senior NTSB Investigator Ralph Hicks said the plane bounced twice upon landing, with the right-front landing gear failing shortly thereafter.
“You can actually see the right-main landing gear collapsing on the video,” Hicks said.
The plane went off the end of the runway and crashed through a fence before coming to a stop on Highway 91.
Earnhardt was en route to Bristol Motor Speedway to work as an analyst for NBC Sports’ coverage of the track’s NASCAR weekend.