TENNESSEE — New details released by the National Transportation Safety Board show Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a pilot struggled to open an airplane’s wing emergency exit as the aircraft began to burn and fill with smoke.
The former race car driver and his family managed to escape out the main door during the 2019 crash in Tennessee.
Documents released Thursday by the NTSB provide pilot, passenger and witness statements about the Aug. 15, 2019 plane crash at an airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Earnhardt was with his wife, 15-month-old daughter, two pilots and the family dog when their Cessna crashed after the jet skidded off the runway at the airport near Johnson City.
The NTSB said in its preliminary report the plane’s landing gear collapsed before the crash. The final report has not been released.
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