Co-Pilot Exited Mid-air?
This incident has got many in the aviation community scratching their heads. Many are wondering what happened with the co-pilot of N497CA. Some stories stated that he fell from the aircraft, while others stated that he jumped. The story doesn’t stop there, however. Before the co-pilot “exited” the aircraft, it had tried landing just minutes before where it lost one of its main landing gears in the attempt. No doubt a full NTSB investigation will commence to find out what happened. In the meantime, here are some stories and a video that might help to shed some light on this very interesting incident.
“My Copilot Just Ran Out The Back Of The Plane”- Chilling Audio From Aerial Incident Near Fort Bragg
A recording of radio calls between an air traffic controller at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the pilot of a stricken CASA C-212 twin-engine turboprop light cargo plane involved in a fatal incident on July 29 has now emerged online. The pilot can be heard explaining multiple times that his co-pilot got up and jumped out of the back of the aircraft, which was missing a main landing gear wheel and was about to attempt an emergency landing, without a parachute and was likely dead. The clip adds new, if still perplexing details to this already bizarre story, which you can get up to speed on first by reading The War Zone’s initial reporting.
By Joseph Trevithick | The Drive
Man jumped or fell from plane before it landed at RDU
FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — A man jumped or fell from a plane Friday afternoon before it made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The plane had reported a problem with its landing gear. The 23-year-old co-pilot’s body was found in the backyard of a Fuquay-Varina residence at around 7 p.m. It was not clear how or why Charles Hew Crooks, who had been a co-pilot on the plane, left the aircraft. He did not survive the fall, authorities said.
By Eric Mille | WRAL
Questions linger: NC pilot fell or jumped before RDU emergency landing?
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Many questions still linger after a plane made an emergency landing at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Friday, and later the body of copilot Charles Crooks was found in a nearby neighborhood. There are some clues about the moments leading up to that emergency landing in calls made to air traffic control. “Emergency, we’ve lost our right wheel, we’d like to proceed to Raleigh and made a landing at Raleigh,” one pilot can be heard saying to air traffic controllers.
By Deana Harley | CBS17
Pilot Falls out of Casa 212 Skydiving Aircraft.
By Juan Browne | blancolirio
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